Chapter 70: The Cruciatus Curse

After returning to the dormitory, Allen fell asleep quickly; he did not take today's events to heart, believing he had merely shown off in front of Professor Qiluo.

Although everything he said stemmed from his recent reflections while reading history books, he did not believe the declining trend of the wizarding world could be so easily reversed; speaking of it before Professor Qiluo was solely to strengthen their relationship.

On the contrary, the matter of writing a book mentioned by Professor Qiluo made him ponder for half a day, mainly contemplating how to spend the money once it arrived, to the point that he even dreamed about it.

Summer arrived silently, and the surroundings of Hogwarts burst with vitality.

Allen remained as busy as ever; the hidden hand lurking within Hogwarts still showed no movement, which made Allen feel vaguely uneasy.

Harry, however, had stopped worrying about this matter; his Quidditch matches for the year had ended, training had decreased, and lately he had been engrossed in Wizard's Chess with Ron.

There was still no new progress regarding the Philosopher's Stone recently, but they were certain the stone remained safe, as they could hear the snoring of the three-headed dog whenever they passed the fourth floor, which greatly reassured them.

The book-writing project with Professor Qiluo was also progressing steadily; the professor was very interested in the concept of political correctness and had been discussing this topic with Allen during tutoring sessions for several consecutive weeks.

Many magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest became pregnant in spring; to confirm and monitor their condition, Hagrid and Allen expanded their patrol range.

It was Friday once again, and Allen and Hagrid were patrolling inside the Forbidden Forest.

From a distance, Allen spotted several long, pure-white hairs; because these hairs seemed to glow with whiteness, they stood out particularly sharply within the forest.

Allen felt they were extraordinary; holding them in his hand, he unexpectedly sensed a warmth.

At this moment, Hagrid caught up, and Allen showed him the long hairs in his hand.

After looking, Hagrid patted Allen with his large hand and said, "You lucky lad, this is unicorn hair; it seems a unicorn has been active nearby recently."

Holding the unicorn hair, Allen said in surprise, "Unicorn hair? I remember Ron's wand core is unicorn hair!"

"Yes, exactly the kind used to make wands! Put it away quickly!" Hagrid winked at Allen.

Allen said somewhat embarrassedly, "We discovered this together, so we must split it evenly!"

Looking at the slightly stubborn Allen, Hagrid reached out his large hand to ruffle his head and said with amusement, "I have a huge handful of them in my hut!"

Allen: "......"

"You found several unicorn hairs in the Forbidden Forest east of Heihu?" Professor Qiluo suddenly interrupted Allen's narration.

Time had arrived at Saturday night again, and Allen was, as usual, recounting yesterday's sightings in the Forbidden Forest to Professor Qiluo.

"Yes, Professor! Are you interested in this?" Allen felt not the slightest anger at being interrupted; he sensed Professor Qiluo's interest in the matter.

"Who doesn't like such beautiful creatures as unicorns?" Professor Qiluo replied with a light chuckle, then seamlessly shifted the topic, "Today we shall learn a new spell!"

Allen's attention was immediately diverted, casting the matter of the unicorn to the back of his mind.

However, Allen felt somewhat puzzled, as his mastery of the Fiendfyre Spell was not yet very good; nevertheless, learning something new was a good thing, and Allen felt full of anticipation.

"The spell we are learning this time differs from any spell you currently master," Professor Qiluo introduced to Allen in a low voice, "The fourth element of the spells you learned previously relied on your imagination, but today's spell requires your emotional power."

Allen silently chewed over the term "emotional power"; he knew some spells required the power of emotion,

those were all very high-level spells, and also extremely difficult to learn.

"Is it the Patronus Charm? I read an introduction to the Patronus Charm in a book, which stated it requires the emotional power of happiness," Allen raised his question.

"Heh heh heh—" Professor Qiluo let out a cold sneer, "We are learning Dark Magic; Dark Magic emphasizes offense, not passive magic like the Patronus Charm!"

"The spell we are learning today is extremely powerful; it possesses strong controlling effects, and its mechanism of action differs from all other magic."

"Some wizards have high resistance to various spells; some control spells, such as the Petrification Spell, can only immobilize them for an instant, but regarding the spell we are learning today, I have never heard of anyone having resistance to it over so many years."

"This spell was also commonly used by ancient wizards, so you must study it well," Professor Qiluo instructed Allen.

"Okay! Okay!" Allen's interest was piqued by Professor Qiluo's words; he currently needed precisely this kind of powerful magic.

Seeing Allen's excited appearance, Professor Qiluo quietly revealed a bizarre smile, then began explaining the spell.

He took out a bottle containing a fist-sized spider, opened the cap, and poured the spider onto the table; the spider behaved obediently on the table without running around wildly, which made Allen breathe a sigh of relief.

"This is our teaching aid for today," Professor Qiluo said calmly to Allen.

Allen always felt there was a chill hidden within Professor Qiluo's statement.

Drawing out his wand, Professor Qiluo said, "I will first give a demonstration so you can see the effect of this spell."

Allen nodded, then fixed his gaze tightly upon that spider.

Professor Qiluo aimed his wand at the quiet spider and chanted the incantation: "Crucio!"

Immediately, all the spider's legs contracted, pressing tight against its body; it flipped over while its body convulsed violently, shaking left and right; it emitted no sound, yet if it possessed vocal organs, it would surely be screaming desperately at this moment; Professor Qiluo did not remove his wand, and the spider began to tremble all over, twitching even more severely.

Allen realized the effect of this spell immediately; watching the spider's painful struggle, he soon could not bear it and averted his gaze.

"What's wrong? Feeling soft-hearted?" Professor Qiluo's tone once again carried that familiar mockery.

"I just feel this spell lacks any meaning..." Allen replied in a small voice.

"Then what meaning do you desire?" Professor Qiluo stared intently at Allen, raising his voice.

Allen dared not meet Professor Qiluo's gaze; staring at his own toes, he said, "I cannot find any meaning in learning this spell..."

"Foolish kindness!" Professor Qiluo evaluated mockingly, while Allen remained silent.

"Mercy toward enemies is cruelty toward oneself; it will be too late to regret once you are trampled underfoot by others," Professor Qiluo continued to provoke Allen.

But Allen's mind was still replaying that scene of the spider struggling, and he still made no sound.

Seeing Allen in this state, Professor Qiluo decided to change his approach; after such a long time together, he already understood Allen quite well.

"Allen, do you know why I want to teach you this spell?" Professor Qiluo suddenly changed his tone and asked counter-questions.

Allen looked at Professor Qiluo puzzledly and said, "Why?"

Instead of answering Allen's question directly, Professor Qiluo continued to ask, "How many times did you practice before mastering the Snake Summoning Spell proficiently?"

"Over a thousand times!"

"And the Fiendfyre Spell?"

"I practiced over a hundred times and still could not master it proficiently; Fiendfyre is too difficult to control!"

Professor Qiluo nodded satisfactorily and said, "Such powerful spells are indeed this difficult to master! But the spell I am teaching today is an exception!"

Allen began to feel somewhat interested.

"Mastering this spell is extremely simple; if your comprehension is sufficient, you can master it with only twenty or thirty practice attempts!" Professor Qiluo's tone became tempting, "Yet its power is immense; after an ordinary wizard is hit by this spell, they basically lose all combat capability! Don't you want to learn such a spell?"

Allen's heart was thoroughly stirred; he was captivated by the future Professor Qiluo had painted. He thought of the spells he had learned before: the Black Snake Emerging from the Cave and the Fiendfire Curse. Wasn't it painful to be bitten by the venomous snake summoned by the Black Snake Emerging from the Cave? Wasn't it painful to be burned by Fiendfire? Why, when both were spells that inflicted pain, did he feel such resistance to this spell today?

Perhaps it was just that teaching aid! These spells were essentially the same, weren't they? Allen thought silently in his heart.

Finally, he made up his mind and nodded at Professor Qiluo!