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----
The tiny flame suddenly surged and expanded like an erupting volcano, and within the fire, the silhouette of a Phoenix crying out was faintly visible!
As the light dissipated, Lynn's figure reappeared in the same spot, unscathed, though a trace of fatigue lingered on his face.
On his shoulder, Levi stood somewhat listlessly, its feathers, once as brilliant as the morning sun, now appearing slightly dull.
In its beak, it held a seed that looked utterly unremarkable.
Lynn reached out and gently took the seed from Levi's beak, not examining it closely before slipping it into his inner pocket.
Then, he took one last look at this dead space and gave his wand a casual wave.
"Let's go. Staying in this place is bad luck."
A spatial ripple flashed and vanished, and the figures of Lynn and Levi disappeared completely, as if they had never been there...
Silence.
An absolute silence lasted for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Suddenly—
Hummm~~~~~
A low spatial tremor appeared without warning. A faint, almost transparent light seeped out from the void, gradually condensing.
Finally, an extremely ancient-looking scroll slowly emerged.
It floated quietly in the air, exuding a sense of ancient vicissitudes and... an indescribable, eerie feeling.
The scroll slowly unfurled on its own.
Its surface was not blank, but covered in dense, dizzyingly complex magic circles, runic formulas, and long passages of Ancient Runes.
When the scroll was fully unfurled, the diagrams and text upon it suddenly burst with a steady light. The light projected upward, condensing into a translucent humanoid phantom about the height of a person above the scroll.
It was a Male Wizard who looked to be about forty years old. He had no Vampire fangs or Goblin features; he was a pure projection of a human Wizard's consciousness.
As soon as the Male Wizard's phantom formed, he immediately looked around with extreme tension.
When he "saw" the current state of the Secret Realm, the gloomy expression on his face instantly collapsed.
First came a moment of utter daze and bewilderment, as if he couldn't comprehend everything before him.
Then, like the silence before a volcanic eruption—
"Fuck!!!" A roar filled with endless fury erupted from the mouth of the Wizard's phantom.
"Damn it! Damn it! You little bastard! What kind of monster crawled out of a rock crack?! My 'Blood Pool'! The Blood I spent three hundred years collecting! My 'Stitched Beast' test subject! I... the Goblins, I finally tricked in here to slowly process! All gone! All blown to bits! Not even a scrap left for me!!!"
Like a gambler who had lost his entire fortune, he began a frantic tirade, devoid of any dignity, incoherent, and peppered with obscure ancient curses and local slang.
He cursed Lynn, cursed the Phoenix, cursed fate, cursed... (Omitted here are several minutes of meaningless but emotionally charged cursing.)
Finally, the cursing gradually died down, replaced by a long silence.
The Wizard's phantom "sat" dejectedly in mid-air, his face buried in his hands, trembling with rage.
After a long while, he finally lowered his hands.
"Sigh... this is trouble. He hit way too hard, leaving no room at all... He's practically a robber, a bandit, an arsonist!" He couldn't help but grumble a few more times under his breath.
But grumbling aside, work had to be done.
He began to channel the magic stored in the scroll and attempted to communicate with the remaining magic of the Secret Realm, preparing for a preliminary "post-disaster reconstruction"—at least enough to repair the spatial cracks and stabilize the space that was on the verge of collapse.
As for restoring it to its original state? That would likely be another several-hundred-year project. He could only helplessly plan to reset the traps, slowly accumulate, and then... wait again for some fated individual (or unlucky soul) to stumble in.
"What, you're not happy that I tore down your crappy house?"
Lynn's voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
The Wizard's phantom froze abruptly and turned his head with extreme stiffness.
There stood the bastard who should have long since departed, standing leisurely a few steps behind him with a half-smile on his face.
What terrified the Wizard even more was that Lynn was currently toying with the physical scroll that carried his consciousness.
"You... haven't you already..."
"'Left already?' That's what you want to ask, right?"
Lynn finished the sentence for him, the curve of his lips becoming more pronounced.
"Ha~ Who told you that seeing is necessarily believing? Leaving behind a realistic magical illusion to draw attention while the true body uses a little trick to hide nearby and watch the show... Aren't you best at this kind of trickery? How come you can't react when it's used on you? All these years... truly lived in vain."
This direct jab at his heart made the Wizard's already unsightly face flush instantly, a surge of fire rushing to his head.
To be judged like this by a young Wizard who looked like his hair hadn't even fully grown in was sheer humiliation!
"You... arrogant!"
In a fit of rage, the Wizard instinctively tried to channel the offensive magic stored in the scroll to teach this ignorant kid a lesson.
However, the moment his intent to attack arose, Lynn's reaction was more than ten times faster than his.
Lynn barely moved; he simply raised his left hand slightly, holding the scroll, while the wand in his right hand was already pointed directly at it.
With a "poof," a cluster of Fiendfyre ignited at the tip of the wand.
"Sizzle—"
A wisp of blue smoke rose, and the edges of the scroll quickly blackened and curled under the Fiendfyre.
"Wait, wait, wait!!! Stop! Stop quickly! Let's talk this out! I was wrong! I was wrong, okay?!"
All of the Wizard's thoughts of attacking vanished into thin air. He hurriedly waved his hands, his posture shifting instantly from fury to amiability.
"Wrong about what?" Lynn moved the Fiendfyre slightly farther away, but it continued to dance near the scroll as he asked in a flat tone.
"Wrong... wrong to launch an attack on you! I was blinded by greed! I didn't know what was good for me!" the Wizard answered hurriedly, bowing and scraping.
Lynn nodded in agreement, and then... his wand, carrying the Fiendfyre, moved a bit closer to the scroll again.
Wizard: "!!!"
He cursed inwardly: Then why the hell are you nodding?! Does nodding mean you agree and then keep burning it?!
"I was wrong to... curse you! Lie to you! Be self-righteous! Treat you like an ordinary young Wizard!" The Wizard was so anxious that his phantom almost dissipated, and he added this at breakneck speed.
Lynn nodded again, the wand approaching threateningly for the third time. "And?"
"I... this... that..." The Wizard stammered, unable to speak. He felt he had admitted all the wrongs he should; did he really have to mention peeping at his neighbor bathing several hundred years ago?
Seeing the Wizard's brain-racking, near-collapsing state, Lynn finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Alright, I'm done teasing you." Lynn flicked his wrist, extinguishing the Fiendfyre, but still held the scroll. "We're both Wizards, after all. It was just a joke. What, isn't it funny?"
How could the Wizard dare to say "no"?
He forced out a smile that looked worse than crying, his lips pulling back to emit a few dry "haha" sounds.
Today, he truly experienced what it meant to be "the meat on someone else's chopping block" and the humiliation of being completely controlled without any power to resist.
"By the way," Lynn said, shaking the scroll in his hand, "how did you get yourself into this state? This thing doesn't look like a Horcrux to me."
The Wizard was silent for a moment, seemingly engaged in a fierce internal struggle. But with his physical vessel in the other's hands and his secrets practically exposed, hiding anything was pointless.
He sighed dejectedly and began to recount: "... (Omitted here are the Wizard's long-winded self-praise of his genius ideas and some technical details)..."
After listening, Lynn felt this guy was practically a genius. To avoid splitting his soul, he had created a permanent "alchemical creation," which was this scroll.
He had also created a Spell to strip away consciousness, directly projecting his own into the scroll to achieve a different kind of immortality.
"Then..." Lynn changed the subject, "what about those 'Puppets' and that stitched monster 'Goblin Priest' from earlier? Don't tell me they have nothing to do with you."
The Wizard's phantom fell silent again, this time for even longer.
"...Blah blah blah..."
"You're a genius, aren't you?" Lynn gave a heartfelt evaluation.
This guy's consciousness had been in this dark Secret Realm for so long that he got bored, so he simply opened the realm to attract adventurers, who would then find the scroll he had prepared.
The scroll would reflect a person's inner desires. Lennus's desire was to return to his original form, so the Wizard fabricated a restoration method to toy with him while also creating a body for himself in case he ever wanted to go outside. He hadn't expected Lennus to actually make some progress.
The Goblins' desire was to restore their glory. The Wizard wanted to see what the outside world had become, which led to the Goblin attack on the ammunition depot.
Suddenly, Lynn noticed a blind spot.
"Then what about Professor Lupin?" Lynn pressed. "Why didn't you make a move on him?"
"I saw how miserable he was and couldn't bring myself to trick him. I still have a conscience."
Lynn: "..."
----
Meanwhile, far away at Hogwarts Castle, Professor Lupin, who was grading assignments, suddenly let out a huge sneeze without warning:
"Achoo! Strange, the weather's getting warmer, so why... is Snape grumbling about his Potions again?"
He rubbed his nose and went back to burying his head in parchment.
----
Seeing that Lynn seemed to have no more questions, the Wizard plucked up his courage.
"Um...you see, I've told you everything you wanted to know without hiding a single thing... so, could you be merciful and... and give me my 'home' back?"
He looked longingly at the scroll in Lynn's hand, his posture extremely humble.
Hearing this, Lynn seemed to snap out of his thoughts. He looked up at the Wizard.
"Sure, of course. I'm a very reasonable person."
The Wizard's heart leaped with joy, but before he could thank him, Lynn changed his tone:
"However... first, demonstrate that 'Consciousness Stripping and Projection' you mentioned earlier. Once I've learned it, I'll naturally give it back to you."
The Wizard's phantom stiffened instantly, his gaze turning extremely suspicious.
"What, you don't believe me?" Lynn seemed to see through his thoughts. "Although my methods can be a bit extreme at times, I'm quite a man of my word. If you don't believe me..."
He paused, seemingly thinking seriously about what to swear by, and then said solemnly, "I swear by the name and life of Driftwood."
He even went so far as to hold up three fingers with mock seriousness.
The Wizard fell silent, seemingly forced to swallow his pride and accept it.
"All right, I hope you will keep your promise..."