Having escaped famine, I was accepted into Hogwarts

Unlike Hermione, who was brainstorming, Kane only took a quick look around this little corner before returning to his dorm room. After all, taking off is definitely not something that can be done in public; it has to be done discreetly.

Back in his dorm room, Kane mounted his flying broom, aimed it at the window, and launched it out.

It wasn't even noon yet when he leisurely rode his flying broomstick and landed in front of the Gringotts Gate in Diagon Alley.

A goblin dressed like a doorman hurried over, suggesting that Gringotts might have a parking goblin position.

However, the elf's trip was clearly in vain, as Kane neither prepared a tip for him nor gave him any work that would earn him a tip. He simply stuffed the broom into the little pumpkin's mouth with practiced ease and walked into Gringotts, leaving the lone doorman elf bewildered.

Kane walked behind the counter and knocked on it, startling the old elf who was reading a newspaper.

"So, is there anything I can help you with?" the old elf asked listlessly.

Seeing this, Kane felt it was necessary to take out his power-injecting rod and give the old elf some power.

He pulled out the key to the Dumbledore family vault, and in that instant, the old elf recognized the phoenix crest on the key. He quickly put down his newspaper, put on his glasses, and became as professional as could be.

"Esteemed wizard, what business do you require?"

"Exchange Galleons for pounds, open a vault, and while I'm at it, see what good stuff is in the Dumbledore family vault." After Kane finished speaking, he slowly placed the key to Dumbledore's vault on the counter and gave a soft hum.

Chapter 118 How can this not be considered a meeting of old friends in a foreign land?

"As you wish, esteemed wizard, please follow me." The goblin took the key and slowly hopped down from the high chair, walked around the counter and with Kane to a room at the far end of Gringotts with a rather imposing door.

"How much wealth do you plan to save initially?" the fairy asked.

"To round it up, one thousand Galleons. Besides that, there are some loose change. Keep half and exchange the other half for pounds. There shouldn't be any restrictions on exchanging Galleons for pounds, right?" Kane followed the fairy into the room. Unlike the splendor outside, the room was just a station inside a bank.

The exposed rails, the unmaintained gyroscope minecarts, and the dense array of control levers made the room seem rather haphazard, a world apart from the outside.

“Of course not, wizard, no one would refuse to exchange paper for gold.” After saying that, the fairy went behind a lottery machine that looked like a three-shot lottery machine: “Do you plan to draw the numbers yourself, or choose your own? I can’t say much about the efficiency of choosing your own numbers, since the numbers you choose may have already been used by someone else.”

"973?" Kane casually rattled off a string of numbers. Although he didn't have any special requirements for the vault number, if he didn't come up with a random number, wouldn't all that talk from this fairy be for nothing?

Unexpectedly, the fairy pressed three buttons on the other side of the machine and exclaimed in surprise, "So, wizard, should we go to the Dumbledore family's vault first, or should we activate your vault first?"

"Go ahead and drive mine. If there's anything in Dumbledore's vault, I'll just put it in my pocket."

As Kane spoke, he and the fairy boarded the gyroscope minecart in the center of the room. No matter how chaotic and unpredictable the connection between the rails and the minecart was, the two of them sat on it very steadily.

Soon, when the minecart came to a stop in front of Vault 973, the fairy went over first, inserted the vault key into the vault door, and the vault door quickly clicked open. Finally, he gently turned it.

The vault door, which looked like a giant manhole cover to Kane, suddenly opened with a bang. He was about to go in and empty the little pumpkin's belly when the fairy behind him quickly reminded him.

"You need to sign a contract before you can store it in the vault, since the ownership of this vault is still in Gringotts' hands."

Kane turned around: "Then please."

The fairy nodded and waved her hand in mid-air, creating a string of characters. There were only characters, no other superfluous patterns or decorations, not even any color difference caused by magical fluctuations.

Indeed, Gringotts, a fairy conglomerate with a chain spanning across Europe, wouldn't stoop to the level of a devil's transaction in fairy tales to extract profits.

Kane read the contract twice to make sure there were no ambiguities or pitfalls before nodding and signing his name in the corner of the contract with his wand.

"It's yours now."

Kane grunted, walked into the vault, picked up Little Pumpkin, made him open his mouth, and started pouring it out from top to bottom. In an instant, various Galleons and gems of different colors tumbled out like corn falling from a machine in an autumn threshing ground, turning into a small mountain in a flash before collapsing with a roar.

"Let's go, to Dumbledore's vault." Kane picked up a few gems that might be useful from the ground, left the vault, relocked the door, and took the key, urging the goblin onward.

"Of course, of course."

The two, one human and one demon, quickly arrived at the door of the Dumbledore family's vault. Kane took out the key Dumbledore had given him and opened it, and then he felt... Dumbledore was truly a great man.

After all, for the headmaster of Hogwarts to have such a meager treasury... it's something most people couldn't do.

The vault, roughly the size of a football field, was large enough to actually play football, as there were virtually no proper obstacles. There were no Galleons, gems, or anything like that. All that existed were some old-fashioned furniture with a worn look, some plush toys, a closet full of women's clothing from the last century, and an old bookshelf with a few books that Kane wasn't really interested in.

Oh, and there's also a black-covered book used to prop up the bookshelf legs.

"Dumbledore really didn't lie to me..." Kane looked around to make sure there wasn't a single coin, and finally, somewhat helplessly, prepared to leave the vault.

But just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt something strange tug at his shadow. Looking back, he saw that his shadow was somehow stuck to the black book on the floor, which was being used to prop up the bookshelf...

There's something wrong with this book.

After all, a normal book shouldn't stick to one's shadow. In other words, one's shadow is only so sticky and strange when in the Eternal Continent. After returning to the real world, it's actually much more normal.

Then this book looks like it has a lot of stories to tell.

Um...

He crouched down and used the shadows to lift the bookshelf. After picking up the book, his pupils dilated for a moment without his noticing. Then he rubbed his eyes and took another look.

"Old Mike, do you still have your Shadow Codex?" Kane suddenly asked.

“Of course it is…” Maxwell suddenly appeared behind Kane, casually jokingly addressing Kane’s silly question, then paused for a moment: “...What is this?”

Kane patted the book's cover: "Isn't it written on it? The Shadow Codex."

Maxwell, meanwhile, began to ponder as he looked at the book: "So, after the Shadow Codex dragged Charlie and me into the Eternal Realm, the codex I used there was merely a projection, like a twin? And the real Shadow Codex is still waiting in the real world for the next unlucky soul to try and possess it?"

"That's right, I'm the unlucky guy it's looking for!" Kane held up the Shadow Codex in front of him with both hands, almost kissing it. Heaven knows how long he coveted Old Man Michael's Shadow Codex back in the Eternal Realm, but he was never allowed to use it or even touch it.

In the end, I went through a lot of trouble. I tried to communicate with the shadows by actively lowering my sanity, but failed. Then I learned about the ancient knowledge of underground caves and succeeded halfway. Finally, I tried to merge with the shadow weavers by facing them directly. I tried all sorts of methods, and I was just short of eating nightmare fuel. But apart from changing my physical condition and mental state a little, it was still not very useful.

Finally, after much hardship, they managed to pull a certain unlucky scientist who liked to throw torches down from the Shadow Throne, and after personally experiencing the power of the Eternal Realm for a period of time, they finally gained complete control of the Shadow and found a way to leave the Eternal Realm.

And now, having found the Shadow Codex, which he used to prop up table legs, in the Dumbledore family vault, isn't that like meeting an old friend in a foreign land?

Chapter 119 Ah~ The Shadow Codex

As for why this Book of Shadows was used to prop up a table leg... perhaps Dumbledore's sanity was too high, and he couldn't see the book's peculiarity.

But this is just right, otherwise I might not have been able to get my hands on this book so easily.

Kane allowed the shadow to erode and melt the Shadow Codex, merging it into his own shadow. Almost instantly, he felt his own shadow solidify, become more active, and obey commands.

Previously, he was able to create Hermione's shadow clone like a marionette, gradually directing the shadow to comfort Hermione. Now, he could directly create shadow clones with basic mobility, just like Maxwell.

Besides, I no longer need to painstakingly use polymorph and shadow erosion to create hostile creatures in the shape of the Eternal Realm to attack the enemy.

With the Shadow Codex, you can directly create and summon all sorts of shadow creatures to attack enemies, eliminating the middleman profiting from polymorph spells.

Of course, the Shadow Codex has more than just this much use. Maxwell has studied the Shadow Codex for so many years and has only managed to learn four spells from it. It's already quite good that he has gained two very powerful abilities as soon as he got his hands on it. If he wants to continue to explore its knowledge and essence, he can only continue to study hard.

"Wizard? Can we leave now?" The goblin, standing outside the vault with his back to the door and not looking into the vault, asked softly as required.

"You can go now."

Kane pulled a stack of Galleons from the little pumpkin's mouth, straightened the crooked bookshelf, and quickly left the vault.

After locking the gate, they followed the fairy back to Gringotts.

After exchanging Galleons for a thick wad of pounds that would be useful anywhere in the Muggle world, he was finally satisfied and rode his flying broomstick back to Hogwarts.

After returning to Hogwarts, Kane first went to the headmaster's office to return the key.

When Dumbledore heard Kane knocking, he expected Kane to have a very troubled and annoyed expression when the door opened. However, when the door was actually opened, Dumbledore showed no sign of annoyance. On the contrary, he was beaming with joy, as if he had suddenly transformed from a troubled twelve-year-old into a happy eighteen-year-old.

and...

"Why do I feel that your magic has become even more powerful?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

“Thanks to your vault,” Kane said, first returning the key to Dumbledore’s vault, then the Shadow Codex appeared before him and he reached out to grab it.

“Yes, I remember it was just a blank notebook with nothing written in it... and that was the case for most people,” Dumbledore said suddenly.

"So I'm one of the very few people who find this book extremely useful to me, the kind that's very important. Thank you for giving it up." Kane then reintegrated the book into his shadow.

"I hope I can help you." Dumbledore didn't spout any useless platitudes about how having too much power is a bad thing or how one should control it, nor did he seem annoyed that he had missed out on a seemingly very powerful spellbook.

He looked as if he had just handed a friend a handful of sunflower seeds, without any extra expression.

"Well, anyway, thank you very much. As for that crooked bookshelf, I used something else to level it, don't worry." Kane's words only made things worse, as Dumbledore suddenly asked anxiously, "What did you use to level it? It wasn't the books or those clothes on top, was it?"

Kane shrugged. "Of course I used Galleons. I saw that your clothes and books seemed to have a lot of sentimental value, so I didn't touch anything."

"Ah...that's good." Dumbledore seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and popped another candy into his mouth. Kane didn't linger any longer and returned to the common room. Perhaps he had been too quick in and out, because Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still in that corner.

Hermione was still looking at the magical family tree, surrounded by a lot of draft paper. Kane was dizzy after just one glance and exclaimed that it was filthy.

Hermione then noticed Kane sitting next to her looking at a book with an ornate but somewhat worn cover. Remembering that Kane had the keys to the Dumbledore family's vault, she realized this must be a spellbook taken from Dumbledore's vault.

With the idea that she could secretly learn a little bit and secretly earn a little bit, she curiously craned her neck to take a look.

A blank page, okay, and it even has an anti-peeping function, what a powerful magic book.

Time passed by little by little, from noon until evening. Because it was a turbulent time and the professors had specifically instructed us not to go out alone unless there was a special reason, even going to the auditorium for dinner required the class leaders of each college to lead the group.

Percy was a very competent prefect, and his grades and leadership skills were more than enough to support his position. In less than a minute, he organized all seven years of Gryffindor into a long line, and together with another prefect, he escorted the young wizards to the Great Hall.

Upon arriving at the auditorium, almost all the professors wore expressions of worry, clearly aware of the Basilisk incident.

Ah, aside from Dumbledore and Lockhart, if Dumbledore, as the headmaster, were to also look worried, it would truly be the end of the world in the eyes of the young wizards at Hogwarts.

And Lockhart... perhaps no one has told him about the Basilisk?

Forget all that nonsense. As Dumbledore waved his wand, a table laden with far more food than usual appeared on the long table. Clearly, Dumbledore wanted to use this food to make the young wizards a little happier.

Kane didn't know if the other young wizards were happy, but he was genuinely happy, until a first-year witch sat down next to him with a conflicted expression.

Kane looked over and exclaimed, "Ah, Ginny, Ron's sister is Kane's sister too! Just say what you need to say!"

Kane thought so, and said something similar, and then Ginny slowly spoke up: "Kane, I remember you and Professor Lockhart are very close, could you... um... could you help me get a black notebook from Professor Lockhart? That notebook is very important to me."

Kane recalled for a moment: "Oh, the one you used to break the noses of other little wizards?"

“It’s not my fault. That person called me a poor wretch first, and said I was willful. He said that if you’re poor, you should wear a second-hand robe instead of a new robe without any decorations,” Ginny said, feeling a little aggrieved.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you didn't hit him hard enough," Kane commented.

Ron and the Weasley twins, who were standing not far away, nodded repeatedly, while Percy decided to turn back and find out who the little wizard who had clashed with Ginny was.

He needs to experience firsthand how the game of power works.

"So, is that alright? I want my notebook back?" Ginny pleaded.

“Of course, I’ll go find Professor Lockhart after I finish eating. As long as the book is still with him, I’ll definitely get it back for you.” Kane readily agreed.

Soon, dinner time ended, and Kane, true to form, arrived at Lockhart's office and knocked on the door.