From Hogwarts to Sturhaven

The girls' washroom on the second floor of Hogwarts is a dilapidated place because it has been inhabited for many years by a grumpy ghost named Myrtle.

Ever since Ivy crafted the fragments of soul from Tom's diary into an evil magical artifact, he has gained insight into the secrets of Parseltongue, and now he can use Parseltongue to open the passage to the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin.

Parseltongue is a magical ability, essentially a spell that targets snakes. Its effect is equal to the combined effect of the first-circle spell Animal Talk and the fourth-circle spell Dominate Beast. Neither of these spells is on the mage's spell list, making it a very useful supplementary ability for Ivy.

With a brief hiss, the faucet bearing the Slytherin serpent emblem emitted a white light, and along with the pool beneath it, vanished, transforming into a passageway leading to the depths of the Black Lake.

Ivy glanced disdainfully at the sludge piled up in the pipes, then used her vaporization ability to transform herself into a gentle breeze.

After traveling several miles through the winding sewers, Ivy stood on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin for the first time.

Actually, Ivy had wanted to visit this place for over a hundred years. Although the Gaunt family had begun to decline, they hadn't lost their knowledge of the Chamber of Secrets. To rashly tell his friend Orminus that he wanted to explore Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets was hardly a wise move. Ivy had originally planned to learn a few Parseltongue phrases from Orminus after defeating the goblin Lanlock before venturing into the Chamber alone.

Now, more than a hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Ivy has finally achieved her wish.

Ivy pulled out her wand and tapped it several times in the air, creating several fluorescent spheres that illuminated the entire underground space.

The first thing illuminated by the fluorescent light was the basilisk's enormous molted skin. After a thousand years of growth, the basilisk, bred by Slytherin himself, had become terrifyingly large. An adult basilisk averages 50 feet in length, and as Slytherin's intended weapon to purge Muggles, the basilisk hidden in the Chamber of Secrets was an even more dreadful presence.

Navigating through the rubble and scattered animal bones, Ivy collected the basilisk's massive molt into the Grimoire of Destruction, a valuable potion ingredient that could also be used in alchemy. As a member of the Scoia'tael gang who even collected the wands of the dark wizards he had killed, Ivy had no reason to let the giant basilisk's molt slip through his fingers.

Continuing along the passage, Ivy came to a well-preserved wall. Without a doubt, Slytherin must have cast a spell on it a thousand years ago; the passage Ivy had just traversed was nowhere near as pristine as this.

The wall was decorated with two giant, winding snakes that seemed to be hissing. The snakes' eyes were huge emeralds, consistent with Slytherin's aesthetic.

"Open it," Ivy commanded the wall in front of her in a deep, Parsleyan voice.

The two giant stone-carved snakes slowly separated, and the stone walls gradually disappeared into the sides of the passage, revealing a large hall.

The hall contained many stone pillars coiled with large serpents, supporting the dark ceiling. Standing at the far end of the darkness was a colossal stone statue, a portrait of Slytherin himself.

He was a thin, wrinkled wizard with a long beard that almost reached the ground.

The floor in the hall seemed to be enchanted as well; the fluorescent orbs that Ivy conjured were completely unable to illuminate the entire hall, and beyond ten steps, it was pitch black again.

“Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the four great masters of Hogwarts.” Ivy stared at the Slytherin statue and uttered the secret in a deep Parsleyan voice.

Slytherin's mouth suddenly opened wide, revealing a cave that led to who-knows-where.

Ivy cast a level 3 flight spell on herself and traveled along the new cave to the deepest part of the secret chamber.

The furnishings here are very similar to Slytherin's study, showing a shared architectural style. Over a hundred years ago, Ivy explored Slytherin's study with Orminus Gaunt, experiencing many trials set by Slytherin himself, such as torturing your friend with the Crucifixion Curse.

Ivy witnessed a lot of interesting dark magic in that study, but in terms of lethality, it was still not as effective as the Killing Curse that wizards had carefully developed.

At the deepest part of the Chamber of Secrets was undoubtedly a solitary space, where there was a stone bed covered with green sheets, all the bedding destroyed by time; a stone table decorated with stone snakes like the pillars in the hall, on which, apart from some decaying parchment, were long-dried candlesticks; and several large chests that had long been empty. Perhaps Slytherin had left some of his collection to his descendants, but given the decline of the Gaunt family, Slytherin's belongings had probably been disposed of long ago.

The individual spaces in the Chamber of Secrets are unremarkable. Perhaps Slytherin left Hogwarts shortly after the Chamber was built. Wasn't the Great Hall that Ivy had previously visited similar to this one? Although it was well preserved by magic, it was indeed completely empty.

Near the entrance, there is a stone portico with a few steps leading Ivy down.

Illuminated by the fluorescent orb, Ivy immediately spotted the basilisk's shimmering green scales. Its massive body nearly filled the entire sunken cellar, and a sweet, pungent odor filled the air, which Ivy guessed came from the basilisk's venomous saliva and liquid.

The coiled snake bodies reflected a dazzling light, and like other highly venomous animals in nature, the basilisk used its shimmering scales to send a dangerous signal to all creatures that saw it.

Ivy noticed that the scales were trembling rhythmically, slowly, but it was proof that the basilisk was still alive.

Ivy flew above the basilisk, following its coiled body to its triangular head, which was remarkably flat compared to its massive form. This basilisk was female, as Ivy couldn't find the distinctive bright red feathers of the male. It had existed beneath Hogwarts Castle for over a thousand years; surely it hadn't begun developing secondary sexual characteristics by now?

Under the fluorescent light, the basilisk's eyelids twitched, as if it were about to wake up at any moment.

"Go to sleep," Ivy soothed him in her Parsleyan accent.

As the only magical power that wizards can control the basilisk, the commands of the Parsleyan are absolute to it. Even though Ivy is not its true master, there is no other wizard here who possesses the Parsleyan.

The Book of Domination, written with fragments of Tom Riddle's soul, granted Ivy the power to tame the basilisk. If Ivy wanted to completely subdue the basilisk before him, he first had to sever its connection to the Slytherin bloodline.

As the creators of the Basilisk, Slytherin's magic ensured the Basilisk's unwavering loyalty to his descendants. This is why, in the original story, Harry, despite being a Parseltongue, was unable to command the Basilisk.

Ivy needs some research to ensure the Slytherin magic is ineffective, but even if he succeeds, he doesn't have enough space to carry the basilisk with him. So Ivy isn't in a hurry; he has a lot to do this year, and right now he just needs to make sure the basilisk doesn't suddenly run away.

The Silverlinden Wand emitted a burst of silvery-white mist, which quickly enveloped the basilisk below, making it look as if it were draped in a layer of silver gauze.

This is not a spell that works on a basilisk.

As a magical creature classified as a XXXXX level by the Ministry of Magic, the basilisk's scales, like those of a dragon, have a very strong anti-magic effect; any spell that hits its scales may be deflected.

Ivy wasn't willing to waste her energy doing something foolish. Since the diary was already gone, and without external intervention, the second Parseltongue Harry at Hogwarts wouldn't willingly enter the girls' lavatory. The Basilisk was safe in the Chamber of Secrets; no one would disturb it.

Therefore, Ivy doesn't need to go to great lengths to trap it with magic; an additional layer of protection will suffice. When the basilisk awakens and breaks free of the spell enveloping it, Ivy will immediately know. Such precautions are sufficient. Without Voldemort's interference, the school will be very peaceful this year.

Ivy cast a spell to remove a green scale from the basilisk, then turned and left the chamber to move on to his next task.

After completely digesting the Phantom of the Opera beneath the Paris Opera House, Ivy gained enough experience to push his Scrivener/Ancient Warrior class level to 12.

However, the Melody Casting specialization and preparations for the start of the school year took up some of his time, so he only had time to complete the upgrade now.

Reaching job level 12 means that Ivy has another opportunity to choose a specialization and has also gained a job trait from the Ancient Warrior class—replacing an Ancient ability.

As masters of excavating ancient artifacts, ancient artifact warriors can gradually gain control over them after achieving a deep rapport with them.

This means that Ravenclaw's crown will now serve Ivy entirely, becoming his Doom Crown. Ivy can use this class trait to completely alter one of the secondary legacy abilities of Ravenclaw's crown.

However, before that, Ivy must first complete an ancient ritual to further activate the power of the Ravenclaw crown.

"adorned with evening stars" is the second step in the Ravenclaw tiara transmission ceremony, and Ivy already has some clues about it.

He wanted to use magic to seal the starlight in the gemstone, so that it would shine forever within it, and then set it into the crown as decoration.

For the largest gem on the crown, Ivy decided to use the light of Venus.

Chapter 170 Evening Star

Venus is one of the eight planets in our solar system. However, in 1992, Pluto had not yet been downgraded, so it was widely recognized as one of the nine planets.

As a planet with an exceptionally thick atmosphere, Venus is remarkably bright in the sky, being the third brightest celestial body after the Sun and the Moon.

Because it is an inner planet, its orbit is closer to the sun than Earth's, so when observing this planet from Earth, it can always be seen following the sun.

In other words, the best times to observe Venus are before sunrise and after sunset. Ancient people from both the East and the West discovered this and gave Venus different names for these two observation conditions: "morning star" and "evening star."

Whether it's the Mesopotamian mythology of the Tigris and Euphrates or the Greek mythology of the Aegean Sea, Venus has been given the title of "beauty." It is "Inanna," "Ishtar," "Venus," and "Aphrodite."

Ivy believed that storing the light of the star named after Athena in a gemstone perfectly met the requirements of the Ravenclaw tiara's heritage ceremony.

Adorning the gemstones with the light of the goddess of beauty and then embellishing the crown with this "Evening Star," even if Ravenclaw himself were alive, he probably would find it hard to refuse.

On the open grass of Hogwarts, Ivy cast a spell to block out the twinkling lights from the castle and the hazy starlight reflected in the Black Lake.

The sun is about to set, and Venus is about to display its brilliance.

Silver dust formed a ritualistic magic circle on the lawn; this was a fifth-circle transmutation spell from the D&D universe—manipulating the wind element.

This is the same type of spell as the fourth-circle alteration spell used by Ivy to manipulate water in the underground lake beneath the Garnier Opera House.

The effect is to manipulate the atmosphere within a cube-shaped space with sides of 100 feet. The caster can generate a gust of wind at their discretion, specifying its strength and direction. In addition, an updraft or downdraft can be created; the former slows descent and increases the mobility of flying creatures, while the latter can disrupt the trajectory of ranged attacks or directly slam targets in mid-air to the ground.

However, Ivy did not cast this spell for these three effects.

By leveraging the unique characteristics of the Awakening Grimoire Ritual, Ivy unfolded the spell into a magic circle, transforming it from an effect that required the caster's focused concentration into one that could automatically persist until the ritual ended.

Ivy intends to use a ritual array to manipulate the atmosphere within this 100-cubic-foot space, creating an invisible air lens to focus and amplify the light from Venus.

He himself would then use wizarding magic to block the path of Venus's radiance after it passed through the largest gem on top of Ravenclaw's crown, ensuring that it would forever shimmer within the sapphire.

As the last rays of the sun disappeared below the horizon, Ivy immediately activated the spell.

The brilliant light from Venus, refracted through the atmospheric lens, perfectly illuminated the dull blue sapphire on the chest of the Ravenclaw Crest Eagle, making it reflect the starry sky.

The silver linden wand lightly touched the surface of the sapphire, and the gem, which had been reflecting a beautiful halo, immediately dimmed, leaving only a few specks of starlight shimmering within.

As the crescent moon rose, the blue gemstone shone brightly again under its pale light.

Ivy's magic preserved the light of Venus very well. Only when stronger light shines in will the gem on the eagle's chest reflect the brilliance of Venus; otherwise, only faint glimmers can be seen.

The largest gem on the Ravenclaw crown has already been adorned with starlight, but the ceremony is not yet completely over, because Rowena—Ravenclaw uses more than one gem to decorate the crown. Ivy will have to repeat this dozens or even hundreds of times to light up each gem on the crown.

The second transmission of the Ravenclaw crown was not truly completed until the moon was at its zenith.

Counting the time, almost six hours have passed. Don't think this is troublesome. In the D&D rules, the rituals for transferring ancient items are increasingly complex, usually starting at eight hours, with twelve hours being normal. Some particularly powerful ancient items even require one or two natural days to complete the ritual.

Completing the "Evening Stars" ritual unlocks two new abilities for the Ravenclaw tiara.

The first one is called "Words of the Wise," which is a spell-like ability similar to the first-ring divination spell "Language Proficiency." However, this is a permanent ability; as long as Ivy wears the Ravenclaw crown, she can permanently gain the ability to hear, speak, read, and write any language.

The second ability, "Wisdom of the Wise," allows the wearer of the Ravenclaw crown to remain in a state of absolute calm indefinitely, and to be immune to three abnormal statuses: charm, panic, and shock. Furthermore, when suffering from a coma effect, the wearer will instead suffer from level one exhaustion.

Both of the Crown's new abilities are outstanding. The Wise Words not only allows Ivy to save a spell slot forever, but also enables him to fully understand spellbooks written in other languages ​​without ambiguity, which is much more useful than struggling with a dictionary.

The Wisdom of the Wise is even more straightforward, directly providing immunity to three mental states, and also greatly reducing the effects of spells and attacks that can cause stun. This means that when Ivy wears the Ravenclaw crown, she hardly has to worry about those malicious sneak attacks.

Of all the spells Ivy knows, quite a few can affect the mind of a target. If you consider magical creatures or monsters with similar spell abilities, there are simply too many.

In the wizarding world, there are many magical creatures with similar abilities. For example, Veela can bewitch men, and they can even calm dragons when they dance; Witchbirds can cause panic with their cries. These brightly colored birds can make people lose their minds with their loud cries, and may even incite people to kill each other. If you are affected by them without any precautions, it is not surprising that something bad will happen; Sirens lure passing ships with their songs. Their figures always appear in sailors' songs.

Now that Hogwarts' magical creature breeding and rearing facility is complete, and both Hagrid and Professor Celticburn are fond of all sorts of dangerous magical creatures, it wouldn't be surprising to see any dangerous species at Hogwarts. And Ivy only needs to place the Ravenclaw tiara on her head to become immune to most anomalies caused by magical creatures.

Furthermore, Ivy can also be immune to the Imperishable Curse, one of the three unforgivable curses, thanks to her ability of the Wise Man's Knowledge.

Chapter 171 Tattoo

Having completed the Ravenclaw crown transmission ritual, it's time for Ivy to choose the Scrivener/Ancient Warrior class and level up to 12 to unlock the new feats it grants.

His character stats are already ridiculously high. Not only are all attributes above 10, but he also boasts 13 class traits and 9 feats, and can generate 10,000 gold every 8 hours, along with the ability to resurrect the dead. And this is with Ivy completely naked; if you include his wizard's wand, Ravenclaw tiara, and Slytherin relic robes, he'd be a genius.