Chapter 73: Awakening

Allen slowly lowered his wand; he felt as though he had just experienced a long dream and had only now abruptly awakened from it.

The final "teaching aid" had directly breached his psychological bottom line, which brought him a degree of clarity.

Using the Cruciatus Curse gave him a sensation of addiction, which immediately put him on high alert; in his previous life, propaganda about drugs in that safe country was omnipresent, and those messages had penetrated so deeply into people's hearts.

It was precisely this sliver of vigilance and the recollection of his past life's propaganda that allowed him to completely break free from Professor Quirrell's hypnosis.

Yes, Allen felt that the state he had just been in closely resembled what was called hypnosis in his previous life.

He suddenly felt that the Cruciatus Curse was like a drug within the realm of spells; each casting fed back a tiny thread of pleasure to the caster, compelling the caster to continue casting in order to amplify that sliver of pleasure, and as the pleasure intensified, so too did the craving for sadism within the heart.

"When the heart is finally filled with a desire to inflict pain, am I still myself?" Allen thought, shuddering with retrospective fear.

But he dared not look at Professor Quirrell; this time he had thoroughly recognized something wrong with the professor, for Quirrell's research into the Cruciatus Curse was simply too profound, something no ordinary person could achieve, and even if Quirrell had previously been a slightly famous genius, it would still be impossible for him to accomplish.

The four levels of the Cruciatus Curse were simply too terrifying; the person who could research them must have cast the Cruciatus Curse on countless creatures countless times to deduce these four levels, which were moreover progressively layered and interlocked.

Allen had truly cast the Cruciatus Curse before, so he could appreciate the power of this spell; it was the most powerful spell he had learned so far, and having previously researched what spells were taught from years one to seven at Hogwarts, he found from the descriptions of those spells that not a single one could compare to the Cruciatus Curse, demonstrating just how immense its power was.

However, such a powerful spell should, by rights, be extremely difficult to learn and master, requiring massive amounts of practice to yield results, yet Allen, having experienced the rapid amplification of the Cruciatus Curse's power under Professor Quirrell's guidance, clearly realized that if he followed Quirrell's method, he could indeed completely master the Cruciatus Curse and unleash its maximum potential in fewer than twenty practice sessions.

This made Allen even more fearful of Professor Quirrell; he knew how terrifying a person must be to research a spell to such a level and find a shortcut for rapid mastery, and Allen had every reason to believe that someone who had fully mastered the Cruciatus Curse must have a heart filled with a craving for sadism, a heart undoubtedly brimming with violence and perversion—had he really spent so much time alone with such a person? Allen's heart was filled with retrospective fear.

Moreover, this spell was a Hei Mo Fa Zhou!

This spell once again overturned Allen's understanding; he had previously learned two dark magic spells and felt nothing major about them, but the Cruciatus Curse was completely different from those spells, and even though he had only cast it a few times and was now much more clear-headed, a craving for sadism still lingered in his heart, that tiny thread of pleasure still swimming within him, teasing his heart until it itched, making one involuntarily want to amplify that sliver of pleasure.

Thinking of this, Allen felt another wave of relief surge through his heart: fortunately, he had broken free from that sensation in time, otherwise he would have sunk into it.

It was evident that this spell also possessed the ability to alter a person's personality and thoughts, leading them down a path of evil.

Coupled with the effects of this spell, just how evil a spell must the Cruciatus Curse be!

To research such an evil and powerful spell to such a peak level of perfection, who could that person be?

Voldemort!!!!!!!!

It could only be Voldemort!!!

This thought immediately leaped into Allen's mind, and as he recalled the various historical records about Voldemort he had read before, he remembered that when reading the accounts of Voldemort's violent deeds in those histories, he had always maintained an attitude of watching the fire from the opposite shore.

At that time, he had even lamented that Voldemort's cruelty could not compare to Hitler's, and that the wizards who had been harmed were nowhere near as miserable as the people in the concentration camps.

But now, that attitude of Allen's had been thrown to the nine heavens; seeing the whole leopard from one spot via this single spell, the Dark Lord's evil and violence clearly exceeded his imagination, and his heart consequently began to tremble slightly...

He suddenly somewhat understood the stress reaction born of fear that non-Muggle wizards felt toward the Dark One.

Therefore, Professor Quirrell must have been sent by the Dark One; he must be the Dark One's most loyal minion, which was why Voldemort had carefully taught him the Cruciatus Curse, and he estimated that Quirrell was here for the Philosopher's Stone!

Allen recalled what had happened after he was hypnotized by Professor Quirrell just now, and he felt his scalp go numb...

He then thought of how Professor Quirrell had just been patting his shoulder and speaking into his ear, and instantly those two areas began to feel cold...

"Why is the Wizarding World so dangerous? I actually nearly got controlled and lost myself!" Allen thought painfully, feeling that his back was already completely soaked through...

"What is wrong?" Professor Quirrell's voice suddenly came, carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.

Allen suddenly gave a start; he felt as though his heart had been suddenly seized...

His perception of Professor Quirrell had now undergone an earth-shaking change; all notions of a "science-and-engineering guy" aura or social anxiety had instantly been cast away to Java Island...

Faced with this simple question from Professor Quirrell, he, who was usually sharp-tongued, suddenly lost the ability to speak; he could not face Professor Quirrell as he had before; he only felt as though a large stone was blocking his throat, not only preventing him from speaking but also making it hard to breathe, and he felt he was already slightly hypoxic...

Allen dared not look at Professor Quirrell; he gripped the wand in his hand tightly, his palms full of sweat, and the room thus fell into a dead silence, making him feel as though every second was like a year...

At this moment, the bell tolling from the Hogwarts clock tower broke the dead silence in the room and saved Allen, who was on the verge of collapse.

The instinct for survival prompted Allen to quickly compose his mood.

By the time the sound of the Hogwarts clock tower's bell faded, Allen had already lifted his head with a smile and said to Professor Quirrell:

"Ah? I was just a bit distracted; what did you just say, Professor?"

Allen controlled himself to maintain eye contact with Professor Quirrell; while forcibly preventing himself from looking away, he continuously recalled in his heart the teacher he had admired most in his previous life—Director Ju of the Strategic Deception Bureau—filling his heart with respect and affection for Director Ju, and then projecting that through his eyes—this was the same look he usually gave Professor Quirrell.

At the same time, he hoped that the God of Strategic Deception, Director Ju, could lend him his power of deception to help him smoothly pass through this calamity.

Professor Quirrell looked calmly at Allen, his eyes filled with an unclear meaning; gazing at Allen, who seemed perfectly normal, he suddenly lowered his head to stare directly at Allen, their noses almost touching...

Then he said softly, "Let us continue practicing!"