The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

Just before last summer, Dumbledore had said that the Philosopher's Stone would be kept by Hogwarts for a year, which made Quirrell, who didn't have much life left and was bewitched by Voldemort, decide to fight to the death.

“Because he didn’t have long to live anyway, that’s why he was in such a hurry to help Voldemort get the Philosopher’s Stone to extend his own life,” Ryze raised an eyebrow.

"But what does that have to do with me? I have no interest in the challenge you set up under that room, Professor."

The reason he could think of was that Voldemort had taken a liking to his talent and now wanted to test his attitude toward dark magic.

Dumbledore waved regretfully at Rez, indicating that he would not force Rez.

He found the mechanisms guarding the Philosopher's Stone quite interesting.

If Ryze is willing to come, he can not only increase the difficulty of the challenge, but also see what Ryze will see when facing the Mirror of Eris.

Chapter 237: Dumbledore's Request

When Rhett asked about Quirrell and Voldemort's approach, Dumbledore gently reminded him, "Rhett, you need to understand that Voldemort was never just a madman who would hide in the shadows and cast killing curses."

When he said this, Dumbledore's expression became particularly serious.

"His ability to recruit talent is actually no less than his expertise in black magic."

"The reason why the Death Eater was able to grow so rapidly was not only because of his own strength and the fear he brought to the wizarding world, but also because he could always accurately capture the deepest desires in the hearts of pure-blood wizards."

He paused, his azure eyes fixed on Ryze, a hint of emotion in his voice: "To be honest, even when I was eleven, I didn't show such amazing magical talent as you, and neither did Voldemort, who also came from an orphanage like you."

"After you win the duel tournament, in his eyes you will no longer be just an excellent student, but a top genius that only appears once every hundred or even thousand years."

"For a genius like you, Voldemort would naturally try to ascertain your attitude first."

If we can win over Riz, that would be ideal.

Even if they can't win him over, it's still better to bring Rhett into the dark wizarding camp than to have another white devil like Dumbledore in the wizarding world in the future.

Listening to Dumbledore describe Voldemort as someone who seemed to have quite a bit of vision, Ryze couldn't help but rub his chin.

Based on his impression of Voldemort in the movie, who was completely lacking in vision, Rhett actually thought that Voldemort would want to nip such a talented student in the bud as soon as he saw him.

It's no wonder he subconsciously thought that way.

After all, Voldemort in the movie really did act quite low in every way.

He kept staring at Harry all day long, showing absolutely no charisma befitting the second Dark Lord.

But Dumbledore's words also made Rizz realize what was going on.

If Voldemort was such a madman with no sense of proportion before he turned the Killing Curse on his enemies, how could he have gained so many followers in his youth?

Imagine Bella's fanatical faith in Voldemort; it would rank among the most extreme even among Grindelwald's saints.

Even if Voldemort's actual strength surpasses that of the first Dark Lord Grindelwald, according to Dumbledore, mere strength cannot create such fanatical followers.

Furthermore, Voldemort's ideas of "pure blood supremacy" and "might makes right" still influence Slytherin students today, which suggests that Voldemort must have had some charisma before he was first defeated.

However, the more than ten years of hiding after being defeated also had a significant impact on Voldemort's mentality. This is why, after his resurrection, he would automatically lose his mind whenever he encountered anything related to Harry Potter, insisting on competing with this student to determine a winner, and not letting anyone else get involved.

Of course, Dumbledore has not yet met Voldemort, whose mentality has become twisted, so he is unaware that Voldemort's personality has become even more extreme over the past ten years.

"So, he gave me this," Rhett waved the parchment in his hand, "a beginner's guide to dark magic, to see how receptive I am to it?"

“This is also a kind of profound knowledge that is difficult for a normal wizard to obtain,” Dumbledore corrected. “He knows that you are a Ravenclaw who seeks knowledge.”

"This skill of controlling emotions and unleashing magical bursts is an irresistible temptation for any genius who craves power and knowledge."

"If you accept this gift, perhaps in the future, the other party will present you with more dark magic to tempt you to try it. Over time, people with low self-control will naturally be more likely to gravitate towards becoming dark wizards."

Riz seemed to be deep in thought.

He looked at Dumbledore: "Professor Dumbledore, you don't seem to be against me learning these things?"

Dumbledore nodded slightly: "Because I know your attitude toward power; you will not be addicted to the power brought by dark magic."

“At your current level, the thresholds of the Forbidden Forest and the Forbidden Books are already too high for you to handle. If I forcibly stop you and push you to the other side, I don’t want to see a third Dark Lord appear at Hogwarts in my lifetime.”

When Dumbledore spoke to Rizz, he appeared relaxed and naturally uttered these somewhat sensitive words to Rizz.

This is also because Dumbledore gradually learned about Rizz's personality during the past six months of getting to know him.

With someone like Ryze, you just need to lay everything out in the open.

The other person doesn't have any dark or heavy psychological shadows in their heart, and has a mature thinking ability that is not easily influenced by others. As long as they explain things clearly, then let Ryze think about it on his own.

Dumbledore naturally had different requirements for different people regarding his attitude towards dark magic.

He would not allow students with unusual minds to come into contact with dark magic before they were mentally mature.

For students with a firm mind, it's perfectly fine to learn some basic black magic in order to better defend against it.

As for Ryze, a genius who appears only once every few centuries, even though he is only a first-year student, he already has the strength to rival an ordinary graduate. It is only natural for him to want to study dark magic and gain a deeper understanding of the differences between black and white magic.

Although it was slightly risky to let Ritz come into contact with the remnant of Voldemort behind Quirrell's head, Dumbledore knew that as long as he was still at Hogwarts and as long as Quirrell had not given up his goal of stealing the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort would not be able to harm Ritz.

Looking at Dumbledore's expression, it seemed as if he was telling Rhett that he could learn as much as he wanted from Quirrell before the end of the semester, or before Quirrell made his move on the Philosopher's Stone.

"In that case, I won't stand on ceremony."

Rizz put the parchment into his pocket.

"Anyway, all I want to learn is the theory and the techniques. When the time comes, I'll just eat the bait and not take the bait myself."

After receiving a reply from Ritz, Dumbledore made another request to Ritz.

"Then keep your current clear-headed attitude. However, regarding Quirinas, I would like to ask you to keep an eye on his condition for me during this time."

"If you think there's even the slightest chance that he'll regain his senses, I still hope that he can rediscover his original passion for learning magic in the end."

Chapter 238: Dumbledore's Self-Restriction

After hearing Dumbledore's request, Rizz did not immediately agree, but instead raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“Professor, this doesn’t sound like an easy task,” he said, looking directly at Dumbledore. “Now that you’ve noticed something’s wrong with Professor Quirrell, why don’t you go and confirm it for yourself?”

"With your abilities, seeing through someone's disguise should be much easier for you than for a first-year student like me, right?"

Dumbledore was silent for a moment.

“Ryze, you’re very perceptive, but when you’re in my position, things get complicated,” Dumbledore’s voice sounded weary. “Ever since that final battle with Gellert… that is, Grindelwald, half a century ago, I’ve noticed that many people become exceptionally cautious when they’re around me.”

Chief Wizard of Wizengamor, recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Alchemist, the greatest wizard of the 20th century...

The various titles bestowed upon Dumbledore have given him a dazzling aura.

As a result, there are not many people who can open their hearts to Dumbledore these days, including most of the professors in schools.

Apart from McGonagall and Mrs. Pomfrey, everyone else was somewhat reserved in front of Dumbledore.

Sirius Black and Rupin, for example, naturally trusted Dumbledore completely and could call him by his name affectionately. However, most of the time, they spoke to Dumbledore with a sense of awe.

Of course, Dumbledore also had his own self-discipline.

To avoid becoming Minister of Magic, one should avoid contact with power as much as possible to prevent losing control of one's desires.

At the same time, when facing his students and school professors, he would never use the Legilimency spell lightly, lest he become someone who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

Rizz listened silently to Dumbledore's explanation.

“Moreover,” Dumbledore paused, his tone becoming much heavier, “Quirinas’s current condition is very unusual.”

"Voldemort's remaining soul resides in him, and his magic extends to Quirinus's mind. Even if I forcibly enter Quirinus's brain, I won't see any useful information, and I might even alert Voldemort and cause him to take more extreme actions."

Although Voldemort is weak now, the key point is that Dumbledore still doesn't understand why Voldemort was able to survive in this state after taking the Killing Curse that bounced back onto him.

He also needed to confirm just how close the connection was between the ancient magic in Harry Potter and Voldemort.

Without unraveling these secrets, even if he takes action to eliminate Voldemort now, the latter could return in a few years.

“So I can only ask Severus to keep an eye on Quirinas for me,” Dumbledore sighed. “But you know, Severus’s personality and style of doing things… are indeed quite strict, which will only make Quirinas more careful to shut himself off.”

Ryze continued, "So, I won't be on Quirrell's guard, so he wants me to go and see if he can still be saved?"

Dumbledore stood up and walked to the window.

"Of course, this is just a request on my part, Ryze."

“I know this is indeed dangerous, so if you feel it crosses your line, or you simply don’t want to get involved in these troublesome things, I will absolutely not force you.”

Rizz listened to Dumbledore's words and pondered silently for a while.

“I understand,” Ryze said, his voice clear in the quiet office. “Now that they’ve put the bait right in front of me, I do want to know what the second-generation Dark Lord’s attitude is towards me. I will make contact with him only when I can ensure my own safety.”

Having Voldemort guide him into the world of dark magic sounds quite interesting.

He wasn't that concerned about Quirrell's life or death, after all, this guy might still have some self-interest, but in the original work, he was a pure villain who showed no remorse even after being corrupted by the love magic in Harry Potter.

It can only be said that under Voldemort's coercion, Quirrell may have had some resistance at the beginning, but as time went by, Quirrell was completely controlled by Voldemort and there was no turning back.

He would at most help confirm whether Quirrell had been afflicted by the Imperius Curse, and he wasn't prepared to pay much more attention to Quirrell's situation.

“That’s enough, Rez. Protecting yourself is always the most important thing,” Dumbledore turned around with a smile on his face. “Well then, perhaps I can treat you to another Lemon Olaf?”

Ryze waved his hand: "I'd rather not eat such sour candy so late at night. I want to get some rest as soon as I get back."

First, study the technique for unleashing magic power. Then, when you get back tonight, practice this technique with the NPC in the Soul Arena. Once you've mastered it, you can try challenging Easy Ryze.

With this skill, he should have a better chance of passing the test.

After finishing their discussion, Rizz bowed to Dumbledore and took his leave.

......

After another evening of working hard to improve her skills, Ryze's second class today was a class on defense against the dark magic.

It was no different from the previous year's courses.

Quirrell was still standing on the classroom podium, stammering as he read the original text from the book.

He's almost finished reading the last chapter of the book, and he should be able to finish learning the entire book and start reviewing it by mid-May.

Although Quirrell's reputation among the lower grades wasn't as bad as it used to be because of what Rizz and Hermione had spread, few students in the classroom were actually paying attention.

Even Hermione, who always respected her teachers, only pretended to listen attentively, but was actually silently pondering the Light Magic Research Group's topic.

After all, everyone knows that Quirrell's classes are simply about reading books, with absolutely no content outside the books, so there's not much need to take notes; just writing down the content from the books is enough.

As for other things like taking attendance and answering questions in class, that has never happened in Quirrell's area.

However, it's not difficult to get extra points from Quirrell. All you have to do is step up and help restore order in class when Quirrell messes things up, and you can get a point or two from him.

Chapter 239: Reiz's Class

"Regarding...regarding low-level curses, we...we need to be careful..."

Quirrell lectured haltingly in class, while the students below were drowsy.

Harry was idly doodling on parchment, while Neville was seriously reading the book. After all, he had a poor memory, and even if Quirrell was reciting the contents of the book, he would have to listen to it again and read it again before he could barely retain some basic impressions in his mind.

Rizzi sat in the front row.

He had mastered the Nasal Congestion Spell to perfection, and he had even optimized it so that it could only block out smells that Ryze didn't want to smell, without affecting other senses of smell.

Further research into this spell would likely focus on enhancing specific scents. However, wizards generally don't need a dog's nose to find things, and it also contains a psychic charm that enhances the six senses. Therefore, even if this spell were developed, it wouldn't have any practical use.

At this moment, Ryze was resting his cheek on one hand, his gaze seemingly fixed on the textbook, but in reality, he was pondering the magical techniques on the parchment.

After a night of practice, he was now just getting started, but he had indeed accumulated a lot of questions, which he planned to ask Quirrell after the class ended.

Just when everyone thought the class would pass by uneventfully as usual, Quirrell's reading abruptly stopped.

"Mr. White?"

The sudden roll call caused a brief commotion in the classroom.

Many students who were daydreaming were startled and looked up at the front of the classroom, wondering what had happened.

When Ryze heard Quirrell suddenly call out his name, he raised an eyebrow, then lowered his hand that was supporting his chin: "Yes, Professor."

Although he was somewhat taken aback by Quirrell's sudden attack, he still knew the content of the lesson because he was sitting in the front row.

He stood up and looked at Quirrell with a questioning gaze.

Quirrell coughed lightly and then asked Ryze a question.

"Regarding the 'targeted defense against low-level curses' that I just mentioned, what do you think is the most important element for a first-year student?"

This question is not difficult, and there are relevant descriptions in the book.

For a wizard, no matter what happens, the most important thing is always to keep your mind calm.

The spell can become stronger or weaker depending on the caster's will.