Chapter 459: Soul Artifact

"Professor, is it that stone?"

Xiang Xiang Xien seemed to be asking, yet also seemed already certain.

This information came from Professor Professor Taila's previous explanation—students granted entry to Uagadou learn news from the sitting Headmaster through the Dream Messenger.

And the Dream Messenger leaves a token of Uagadou for the young wizards while they sleep—usually a stone carved with inscriptions.

"A genius intuition—"

Professor Professor Taila was immensely gratified,

"The Sacred Stone, also called the Empty Rune, is said to be the blank runestone from myth, containing the essence of the deepest wisdom and the secrets of the self.

But I lean more towards it being a powerful alchemical creation, much like the Deathly Hallows in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Its effects are not as powerful as legend claims, yet they are enough for a wizard to tread that unique realm. This is also why Uagadou wizards excel at self-transfiguration.

Originally, no Sacred Stone was permitted to leave Uagadou, but exceptions always exist.

Wait patiently for the next opening... my dear disciple."

Professor Professor Taila gazed into the distance; among the clouds, a paper airplane was flying unsteadily.

Professor Professor Taila mentioned the legend of the Deathly Hallows, prompting Xiang Xiang Xien to go to the library; he remembered The Tales of Beedle the Bard was on a special bookshelf.

Compared to most days when seats were mostly occupied, the library was empty during summer break. Magic lanterns illuminated Xiang Xiang Xien's view, and he saw many books:

"The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle": This comic book tells the adventure stories of "Mad" Muggle Martin Miggs; Luo En is a loyal reader of this comic. On his seat in the House of Hope, there was a huge stack of his comic books;

On the same shelf as this book, Xiang Xiang Xien also saw "The Magic Storybook", "The Flight of the Christmas Owl", and others; they all had thick red covers and golden titles.

Soon, Xiang Xiang Xien found The Tales of Beedle the Bard—its blue cover was very conspicuous.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Oh, I had forgotten you were such a small child."

Madam Pince appeared at some point, holding a feather duster, and said with a smile,

"This reminds me of that terrible play... a play that caused more than one parent to demand this book be removed from the Hogwarts library..."

Xiang Xiang Xien had originally intended to read the legend of the Deathly Hallows carefully, but Madam Pince's words gave him new curiosity.

"May I know..."

"Of course—I remember the Herbology teacher at that time was still Professor Herbert Beery.

He was a very enthusiastic theater lover who proposed adapting one of the stories beloved by children—the Fountain of Fair Fortune—into a Christmas performance for students and staff to enjoy.

However, some human factors ultimately ruined the entire production. Professor Beery, as director, failed to notice the romantic entanglement happening right under his nose, which made the stage extremely dangerous.

The actors playing the female lead "Amata" and the female supporting role "Asha" fell into a love triangle with the actor playing the male lead "Unlucky Sir"; just before the curtain rose, the male lead had already shifted his affections.

The performance went completely out of control as soon as it began; "Amata" and "Asha" fought each other in a duel that was hard to resolve, and Professor Beery was also dragged into their battle.

The battle grew increasingly fierce; the fire-dragon snakes used in the performance even caused a huge fire, and the hospital was overcrowded. It took several months for the pungent smell of burnt wood in the Great Hall to gradually dissipate.

Headmaster Armando Dippet decreed that pantomime performances would be completely banned henceforth; this tradition has continued at Hogwarts to this day."

Madam Pince recalled with interest, then pulled another book from the shelf and handed it to Xiang Xiang Xien,

"Relax during the break; The Tales of Beedle the Bard is very good, but you can also read this one, 'Tales of the Dream'."

Xiang Xiang Xien took the book; he had not expected Hogwarts to have so many wonderful stories.

He felt that although the wizards did not see the play, perhaps the farce they witnessed was even more spectacular than the play.

After Madam Pince left, he began silently reading the story of the Deathly Hallows. By chance, he opened that book, 'Tales of the Dream', and the appearance of a single word made him unable to look away:

— Soul Artifact.

So Xiang Xiang Xien decisively put down The Tales of Beedle the Bard and began reading 'Tales of the Dream'.

It tells the story of a wizard using the Soul Artifact to travel between a "World Behind the Veil".

At first, he transformed into various animals there and experienced all kinds of wonderful adventures; after some time, he discovered that stargazing there could predict the future; in the end, he even met other deceased wizards and could "pull out" wizards who "lingered, unwilling to become ghosts, yet unwilling to leave" for "a while".

Truly wonderful...

When he closed the book, the sky outside the window had long turned pitch black.

Before the curfew bell rang, Xiang Xiang Xien came to the counter, preparing to borrow the book, which surprised Madam Pince:

"You are finally willing to rest a bit—what are you still waiting for? I will sign for you."

The days remaining at Hogwarts were peaceful and fulfilling.

Xiang Xiang Xien mostly switched between the state of a cat and a wizard; one switch with sufficient time could increase his proficiency in Soul Transfiguration by one point.

For example, now:

【You practiced Soul Transfiguration once at the Apprentice standard within the Master Domain; Master Proficiency +1】

After restoring his wizard body, Xiang Xiang Xien had to practice Transfiguration magic; this was his greatest reliance for defeating the Basilisk directly;

Of course, due to certain special reasons, Professor Professor Sineipu's requirements for his Dark Arts training were even more severe; every day, his Dark Arts proficiency increased rapidly.

In the early morning, Xiang Xiang Xien had other matters, such as taking time to visit a large dog in the Forbidden Forest.

After a busy week, an owl brought Xiang Xiang Xien a special letter.

"Please continue to take the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross Station to school on September 1st."

Hmm... what if I am already at Hogwarts?

He looked up at the High Tower; the owl was flying back to the Headmaster's office.

It appeared the letters were distributed uniformly, while Headmaster Dumbledore was delivering a message to him face-to-face.

He continued reading:

"Second-year students must read: 'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2' by Miranda Goshawk, 'Nv Gui Jue' by Gilderoy Lockhart, 'Voyage with a Vampire' by Gilderoy Lockhart, 'A Holiday with a Troll' by Gilderoy Lockhart, 'With a Giant' by Gilderoy Lockhart, 'Travel with a Vampire' by Gilderoy Lockhart, 'Wandering with a Werewolf' by Gilderoy Lockhart, 'A Year with the Yeti' by Gilderoy Lockhart, by Gilderoy Lockhart."

The long string of Lockhart titles made Xiang Xiang Xien feel a bit overwhelmed.