A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

If you're unlucky, you'll end up with nothing.

"If I may ask, how long does it take to upgrade?"

"For seven days, the system will only retain the check-in function, while the mall will be closed."

“Let’s wait and deal with the Niga mask first.” Aaron shrugged, then asked, “How do I absorb the mask’s energy?”

"Simply recite and absorb it."

"Simple and direct, I like it." Aaron raised an eyebrow, then silently absorbed the information.

Countless thin black shadows appeared on the surface of the Nija mask and all of them flowed into Aaron's body.

However, he did not feel uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, he felt that he had some kind of power, and a boundless but dark world appeared in his pupils.

"Is that the Shadow Kingdom?"

Aaron murmured thoughtfully, "Only by collecting all ten masks can we completely control the Shadow Kingdom. I have only completed one-tenth of it, barely taking the first step."

With the finish line still incredibly far away, he was now more interested in testing the ninja group's strength.

Snapped!

Aaron snapped his fingers, and countless red eyes appeared in the places where shadows existed in the Divine Hall. Densely packed shadow ninjas emerged from them and then knelt down to pay their respects to Aaron.

Roar!

Abe roared and bared his teeth at the shadows to express his displeasure.

The Holy Dragon seems to have an innate aversion to these dark creatures. If they weren't summoned by Aaron, they would probably have been baptized by dragon flames the moment they appeared.

"These aren't enemies," Aaron quickly reminded him, before taking a closer look at the ninja group.

There were roughly two hundred of them, occupying almost every dark corner of the Divine Hall, utterly loyal and devoid of any emotion.

Although he has completely mastered the power of the Niga Mask, it does not mean that the number of ninjas he can summon is infinite; rather, it is determined by his strength.

With his current strength as a beginner-level archmage, he can summon five hundred shadow ninjas at a time without any burden; any more would consume his own magic power.

Furthermore, the mana consumed increases exponentially with the number of summons.

This setting is passable, but it makes sense. If one could summon without limit, a single mask would be enough to rule the world.

Aaron shook his head, feeling that he might be being a bit greedy.

Looking at the kneeling ninjas, Si Nian Ti was both amused and exasperated. "We have guards, servants, and cooks. Now it really does look like a palace."

"Do you think we should get a crown or something? It'll look more grand."

"Don't joke around, I still prefer a minimalist style."

"I only asked you to build a throne because I thought it looked unsightly empty there; otherwise, I would have had it torn down long ago."

"You can't blame me for this!" the thought-provoking body said speechlessly. "I originally wanted to get a chessboard, something understated yet luxurious and meaningful."

But most of the time I'm the only one here, so is it okay for me to entertain myself?

Upon hearing this, Aaron rolled his eyes, speechless.

He looked at the Nija mask in his hand, pondered for a moment, and then a slight smile appeared on his lips.

A black shadow emerged from the palm and seeped into the mask.

A red light flashed in the pupils of the Nija mask, and the devoured power returned to the mask, but it was somewhat insignificant compared to before.

"Tsk!" The Longing Enthusiast clicked its tongue. "How much did you give away?"

“One-fifth!” Aaron said mysteriously. “Now, ordinary people can also summon a ninja group by wearing this mask, but the number is only one-fifth of mine at this stage, which is one hundred.”

In addition, I have locked the upper limit of this mask. No matter who wears it, they can only summon a maximum of one hundred shadow ninjas.

Under normal circumstances, fifty shadow ninjas can be summoned without any burden, but summoning more than that would require consuming magic power; for ordinary people, this would consume stamina or life force.

"What an amazing dark magic artifact!" the thought entity exclaimed. "But was it really necessary?"

“Maybe not now, but who knows what the future holds!” Aaron said meaningfully, then placed the Nija mask on the storage shelf. “It’s always better to leave some things to others than to do everything yourself.”

Moreover, the power can be withdrawn at any time, so there's nothing to worry about.

"That's true."

After dealing with Nija's mask, Aaron had 720 magic points left.

Looking at the store interface, Aaron scanned the entire materials section.

He planned to give the piece of mithril to Arg when he got back, to be used as material for forging divine artifacts. The remaining phoenix feathers, mandrake, rhinoceros horn, and bezoar would be placed in the Divine Hall, otherwise the empty storage shelves wouldn't look very nice.

He didn't miss out on the Pensieve, Wizard's Chess, and Muggle wands either, placing orders for them all. As for Rajini's emerald, he gave up on it for the time being, because after buying the previous items, he would only have thirty magic points left, and he would have to sign in at Hogwarts for two more days before he could buy the emerald.

The shadowy ninja neatly arranged these items on the storage shelf, while the Pensieve was placed in front of the throne in the main hall.

"It doesn't look so shabby anymore, but it's not of any use right now."

"That's just for now, we can save up slowly." Aaron said nonchalantly, "Later, we'll go to Snape's office and get some things, and have Genes buy a batch of materials. Then the Potions Room will be set up, and Professor Snape's notes will have a chance to be put into practice."

"In the end, it's still the same old job of splitting into two!" the Memory Body said with a wry smile.

Aaron waved his hand, and all the ninja soldiers retreated back into the shadows.

"I have given you two-fifths of the authority. You can summon two hundred shadow ninjas. With these men, your vacation will be much easier."

"But they can only be assistants; there are some things I have to do myself."

"Be content!" Aaron shrugged. "System, you can upgrade the shop now."

"Please wait seven days, host. New features are on their way."

Aaron: ......

Emerging from the secret passage, Aaron cleared his chaotic thoughts.

So much happened yesterday: Buckbeak was saved, the complicated case from twelve years ago was solved, but Peter Pettigrew still managed to escape.

This means that Voldemort's servants will return to Voldemort's side, and it's only a matter of time before the Dark Lord makes a comeback.

However, Voldemort's injuries were far too severe to be easily cured with simple recuperation. He must have a series of plans, and the commotion he's about to cause is likely to be significant.

By simply paying attention to major events in the wizarding world, one can easily predict how far Voldemort has recovered. Coupled with his rudimentary divination skills, avoiding Voldemort's gaze might not be too difficult.

This was actually a last resort, since he was still far behind the Dark Lord. Before he had the power to directly confront Voldemort, playing it safe and developing his strength was the best course of action.

Chapter 330 The holiday begins; a message is sent to Lucius.

Exam results were handed out to everyone on the last day of the semester.

Aside from arithmetic divination, Aaron ranked first in his grade in all other subjects, especially in divination, where Professor Trelawney gave him an unprecedentedly high score.

Because Gryffindor won the House Cup, the flag at the end-of-term party was changed to the red and gold Gryffindor lion flag.

Compared to the lively Gryffindor long table, the atmosphere in Slytherin was somewhat somber.

“No wonder my dad said that Dumbledore becoming headmaster was the worst thing that ever happened to this school,” Draco said with a grim face. “Harry Potter and his friends broke so many rules, and even attacked and injured Professor Snape, but they didn’t get any punishment. If they had a few points deducted, the House Cup would still be Slytherin’s.”

“I said Professor Snape doesn’t look too good.” Crabbe glanced at the faculty table and met Snape’s sharp gaze, which startled him so much that he quickly turned his face away.

“It’s perfectly normal.” Draco sneered sarcastically. “If it were me, I would also be annoyed by Dumbledore’s favoritism.”

“Who told our headmaster to be a Gryffindor!” Aaron laughed dismissively. “But even if he’s biased, he has his reasons, otherwise Professor Snape wouldn’t have chosen to swallow his anger.”

Upon hearing this, Draco gritted his teeth, stopped bringing up Dumbledore, and silently lowered his head to eat.

......

The next day, Aaron packed his things early in the morning.

Besides the necessary living supplies prepared for the missing body, he also stuffed all sorts of other things into his suitcase.

Abe crouched nervously on the bed, carefully clutching his pockets, afraid that he would have to hand over the supplies he had saved up for half a year again if he wasn't careful.

However, Aaron didn't mention it until they boarded the Hogwarts Express, which relieved Abe.

In fact, such worries are completely unnecessary. The supplies in the Divine Palace are more than enough to sustain the Thought Entity for a whole summer. Aaron would not take advantage of Abe if the supplies were sufficient.

The supplies it's currently stockpiling can't be touched easily; they're for the next semester and even the semester after that.

There were no werewolves on the train back. Aaron arrived earlier and went into a private compartment by himself.

He put down Abe, whom he was holding, and sat down by the window.

The scenery outside was quite beautiful, but he had no heart to appreciate it.

His vacation is different from others' vacations; those are filled with cram schools one after another. This time, he absolutely can't escape two months of cram school.

At that moment, the sliding door to the private room opened, and Draco walked in with Crabbe and Goyle.

"You don't seem happy at all during your vacation?" Draco asked.

"Tutoring classes," Aaron said with a bitter face.

Draco paused, his pupils widening slightly. "Wait, isn't this a bit too... exaggerated?"

"You're fourteen years old already, and it's still not over?"

"What's not over?" Crabbe asked, somewhat puzzled.

“It’s none of your business,” Draco said, then looked at Aaron speechlessly. “I heard last year that you were frequently seen in Diagon Alley a month before school started, and I thought…”

“Last year was an accident.” Aaron forced a smile. “Last year, my family wanted me to go out and broaden my horizons, so they arranged a long trip for me. That made me realize what’s worse than tutoring classes.”

"Uh... if you think about it that way, tutoring centers aren't so bad, right?"

"Heh!" Aaron rolled his eyes. "I'll take that as you trying to comfort me."

“There’s a Quidditch World Cup this year, and I was planning to invite you to come with me,” Draco said regretfully, leaning back in his chair. “But it seems like it won’t be necessary now.”

"Perhaps there's a chance," Aaron said calmly. After all, he was Gaius's only heir, and Genes always had to listen to his opinions.

Taking a few days to watch the game and relax your tense mind is perfectly fine.

"Really?"

Hearing this skeptical tone, Aaron also became somewhat less confident.

If his parents gave him a firm order, Genes would never let him go out and have fun, no matter how difficult it was.

"Sigh!" Aaron sighed deeply. "We'll see!"