Hogwarts: This holy light is righteously evil.

However, its power has an extremely high upper limit, and its core relies on the practitioner's emotional state to drive it.

The stronger the practitioner's will and the more intense and full their emotions, the more powerful the magic power can be generated by the same amount of magic, with an explosive force far exceeding that of conventional spellcasting.

In his mother's view, the current time was the perfect opportunity for Qiu Zhang to learn this secret technique.

She is resolute, has clear goals, and is determined to become stronger and protect others. Her emotions are pure and unwavering, enabling her to unleash the true power of this magic to the fullest extent.

The magical world is currently rife with undercurrents. Beneath the seemingly peaceful daily life lie countless unknown hidden crises and dark dangers.

Even though Cho Chang stayed in the heavily guarded Hogwarts school year-round, far from the outside world's conflicts, he could not completely avoid all unknown risks.

As a mother, she could never be completely at ease.

Only by equipping her daughter with sufficient self-defense skills and practical combat abilities that combine offense and defense can she protect herself when sudden danger strikes and avoid relying on others for protection.

This is also the core reason why she insisted on passing on the family's secret magic spell to Qiu Zhang.

Knowing the preciousness and practicality of this magic, and with the goal of amazing Puni, Qiu Zhang's attitude towards learning became even more diligent and focused.

She was not satisfied with a superficial grasp of the basics. Every spell she cast and every maneuver of her magic was executed with utmost rigor. She meticulously refined her spellcasting gestures, adjusted her emotional state, and calibrated the rhythm of her magic output.

The basic formation was just her starting point. What she pursued was mastery and the ability to cast spells at will, turning this secret technique into her trump card, so that it could be cast instantly and with stable power.

Throughout the holiday, Qiu Zhang practiced almost without interruption, diligently studying, reviewing, and refining his skills every day without fail, abandoning all thoughts of leisure and devoting himself entirely to it.

By the time the holiday was completely over, Qiu Zhang had finally completed the overall study of this ancient secret art, fully grasped the laws governing the activation of magic, the techniques for matching emotions, and the critical point of power, and reached a level of proficiency in its use.

To verify her daughter's progress in her training, Qiu Zhang's mother specially set up a comprehensive practical assessment, covering multiple dimensions such as static spellcasting, dynamic response, and emotional control.

Throughout the entire assessment, Qiu Zhang performed consistently, casting spells with precision and fluency, and controlling their power perfectly. He passed all the assessment items flawlessly, thoroughly mastering this family's secret offensive and defensive spell.

Seeing her daughter working hard day and night to catch up with others and improve her skills, Qiu Zhang's mother felt genuinely gratified.

She could sense Qiu Zhang's growth and transformation, from being completely ignorant about magic at the beginning to being determined and diligent in his studies now. This change in his mindset was particularly rare.

But along with her relief, a subtle bitterness and a sense of envy also arose in her heart.

The daughter's motivation for learning secret arts almost entirely stemmed from her desire to catch up with and help Puni.

The sheer determination behind this cultivation reveals the immense weight Puni holds in Qiu Zhang's heart, almost rivaling her and her husband's place in their daughter's.

As a mother who has watched her daughter grow up, it's inevitable to feel a sense of loss when she sees her child placing her greatest passion and perseverance on another teenager.

She thought to herself that if Qiu Zhang's father had noticed this, given his personality, he would most likely have made quite a fuss and tried to teach him a lesson.

After a brief emotional rollercoaster, the focus shifted, and the camera turned to Puni, who was also nearing the end of his holiday.

The holiday's lingering warmth had completely dissipated, and all students were entering the final stages of preparation, including Puni.

He was currently at his residence, handling two important but trivial matters simultaneously: systematically organizing his personal belongings to take back to Hogwarts, and dealing with the pile of schoolwork assignments.

Putting aside his usual outstanding abilities and mature mindset, when it comes to holiday homework, Puni is no different from any other student with procrastination issues.

As fellow Hogwarts students, Marcos knew to plan ahead, deliberately setting aside several days to catch up on his homework to avoid a rush when school started. In contrast, Penny simply put off all his coursework, delaying it until the last day of the holiday before finally getting around to it.

Eddie, who had finished all his assignments early, had already passed the completed homework samples through the fireplace passageway of the mansion.

Seeing Puni rushing to finish his work right before the deadline, this self-disciplined top student was completely at a loss for words.

Eddie, who had long been accustomed to planning ahead, had never experienced the agony of extreme procrastination, so he naturally couldn't understand Puni's way of doing things, which was to push things to the last minute.

The reason Puni delayed until the end was not because he was lazy or negligent, but because his entire holiday was filled with planning, managing his businesses, cultivating magical creatures, and various personal matters.

The thought that "there is still plenty of time" kept popping into his mind, constantly weakening his sense of urgency. Over time, it became a form of psychological hypnosis, making him feel that there was no need to rush.

By the time you've completely detached yourself from the hustle and bustle and come to your senses, there's only one day left of the holiday.

Being able to realize and extricate himself before the deadline is a testament to his composure and strong self-control.

Even with only one day left to finish, Puni showed no panic or anxiety, remaining calm and composed throughout, without the typical anxiety of a student rushing to finish homework.

These assignments were not difficult for him; he could write them very quickly.

After the Easter holidays ended and all students returned to school, the atmosphere of the entire Hogwarts castle subtly changed. The playful noises that used to be everywhere, the chasing and frolicking in the corridors, and the leisurely gatherings on the lawns were greatly reduced, and the entire campus was shrouded in a tense and solemn atmosphere.

The core reason for this change is that the end-of-term assessments for this semester are approaching. The final exams for each subject, practical assessments, and theoretical spot checks are coming one after another, forcing students of all grades to put aside their playful nature and devote themselves to a tense state of exam preparation.

Puni, who was in the midst of it all, noticed something unusual. He found that the professors giving the lectures seemed more nervous and anxious than the students, who were preparing for the exams in a calm and methodical manner.

In every class recently, professors have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the final exams, constantly reminding students to temporarily put aside extracurricular activities, club affairs, and entertainment, and to concentrate all their energy on coursework review. They have repeatedly rushed to review exam points, highlight key points, and even proactively reduced classroom practical interaction time to explain theoretical difficulties one more time.

Puni was quite puzzled by this.

In his view, not all instructors are consistently so strict and responsible; many professors have a relaxed teaching pace and do not exert excessive pressure.

However, as the end of the semester approached, almost all teachers switched to a high-pressure exam preparation mode, making the overall atmosphere seem particularly deliberate.

The biggest impact of this exam preparation craze is directly reflected in Quidditch training.

With only the final crucial match remaining in this season's intramural league, the Quidditch teams from the four houses should have entered the final sprint training phase.

But now, applying for the right to use a Quidditch pitch has become twice as difficult.

Team leaders from various colleges submitted training approvals to their professors and the school administration multiple times, but most of them were rejected on the grounds that exam preparation was the priority, and the approved training time was significantly reduced.

Katie, who has been following the training dynamics of various academies for years, has the most direct experience with this.

She often goes to the stadium to watch the training camps of various teams, and recently she has clearly noticed that the overall training frequency, duration and intensity of all academies have been reduced by a full half compared to before.

The lively scenes of multiple schools vying for stadium space and staggering their training sessions have completely disappeared. Quidditch stadiums are mostly empty and deserted, lacking the enthusiastic atmosphere of the eve of the league season.

Puni's academic pressure has increased dramatically since the start of the school year. Various review tasks and assignments have piled up, taking up most of his free time. He needs to spend a lot of time every day sorting out knowledge points and completing coursework, leaving him with no extra energy to participate in or watch Quidditch training.

This is why he couldn't help but feel a little doubtful. Everyone else was caught up in the pressure of exam preparation and their schedules were filled with studying, but Katie was still carefree and always managed to find time to go back and forth to the court to observe the training of various colleges, completely unaffected by the final exam preparation.

With everyone's focus shifting towards academics, the Quidditch arena seems to have fallen silent. However, the Ravenclaw Quidditch team encountered a tricky and unexpected crisis within just a few days of returning to school.

In the last league match, the Ravenclaw Seeker who was caught in a multi-ball attack and eventually lost control and fell, completely confirmed the hidden danger that Puni had casually predicted. After several days of rest, the player was diagnosed with a specific field psychological disorder, which is Quidditch phobia, a typical condition among wizards.

These types of mental illnesses have an extremely sudden onset, no fixed course of illness, and the recovery time is impossible to predict.

Despite numerous examinations and psychological counseling sessions, Mrs. Pomfrey was unable to provide a precise recovery timeline, neither guaranteeing a quick recovery nor determining whether she would suffer long-term psychological trauma.

This situation directly pushed the Ravenclaw Quidditch team into a desperate situation.

According to the rules of the Hogwarts Quidditch League, if the Seeker is absent from the game, the team will be deemed to have forfeited, and 150 base points will be deducted from their score.

In the upcoming matches, Ravenclaw will face two strong teams, Slytherin and Gryffindor.

If the Seeker position remains vacant, the team will lose the base score before the official start of the game, and there will be almost no chance of a comeback in the subsequent matches.

Therefore, Puni was required to play as a substitute before the next match.

At the same time, inside the Hogwarts Library.

Puni was sitting in a reading seat by the window, diligently organizing his course notes. Taking advantage of the quiet atmosphere of the library, he reviewed the key points of each subject and prepared for the upcoming final exams. On the table was a cup of warm honey tea, a drink he had specially prepared to soothe his mind and relieve the fatigue of studying for the exams.

Just as he picked up his teacup and took a sip, the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain's whispered plan reached his ears clearly from not far away.

The sudden, shocking news left Puni momentarily stunned, causing him to spit out all the honey tea he was drinking, which splashed onto the papers on the table.

Puni was helpless about this.

Why is it that I suddenly have to play?

He was watching the show from downstairs!

Alright, let's go check out Slytherin first.

Once school starts, there's never enough time.

Hey!

......

Chapter 128 Too busy, let's deal with the basilisk monster first.

Qiu Zhang looked at Marcos.

"Puni hasn't come back yet, aren't you worried at all?"

No way.

Marcos appeared relaxed, showing no sign of anxiety, and casually gave a response.

In his view, there was no need to worry about Puni's safety and situation.

Ravenclaw's eagle-head door knocker is ingeniously designed, containing multiple magical puzzles, and has always been one of the most difficult access restrictions for freshmen. However, this access control mechanism has never stumped Puni before. He has always been able to come and go freely in and out of the academy's common room without any restrictions.

Cho Chang's concerns hadn't dissipated. She frowned, looking at the gradually dimming lights in the corridor, and reminded him more earnestly, "But it's almost curfew. Hogwarts' night patrols have already started. If he doesn't return soon, he'll definitely be severely punished if he's caught by a patrolling teacher or prefect."

"You don't need to worry about this at all."

Marcos casually waved his hand, a knowing smile on his face, his tone unwavering, "If Puni were so easily caught violating school rules, he would have been punished multiple times since the moment he enrolled, and there's no way he could have stayed this long."

After saying this, Marcos subconsciously glanced around to make sure there were no other students or faculty members passing by in the corridor before leaning down slightly and lowering his voice to reveal a secret he had kept hidden for a long time.

“In fact, since the start of the new semester, Puni has hardly stayed in the dormitory overnight.”

He scratched the back of his head, his expression calm, and slowly recounted all the details he had observed: "I initially thought it was just an occasional special case. When I first saw him not in his dorm late at night, I assumed he had something urgent to attend to. But as time went on, I realized that whether it was late at night or in the early morning, or in windy or rainy weather, he would leave his dorm almost every day late at night and wander around Hogwarts Castle alone. One or two times could be considered a coincidence, but for months on end, day after day, this was definitely not a coincidence."

Upon hearing this secret, Qiu Zhang's expression instantly turned serious. His curiosity and worry were fully aroused, and he eagerly asked, "Then do you know what he does every night when he goes out?"

Marcos shrugged lightly and shook his head decisively: "I really don't know."

He spoke with a mix of joking and seriousness, frankly stating his thoughts: "Everyone has their own private secrets. I never deliberately pry into other people's privacy, especially Puni. He has countless secrets hidden within him, and he is deep in thought and unpredictable in his actions. I dare not pry too much. If I find out something I shouldn't know, it would be a loss if I got into trouble."

Over time, Marcos, Eddie, and Roger had grown accustomed to Puni's unusual ways.

Even though they were classmates who entered the university in the same year, they could never treat Puni as an ordinary person of the same age.

Whether it's his extraordinary intellect, his calm and experienced way of doing things, or his unfathomable magical strength, all of these are far beyond the scope of ordinary freshmen.

The two had privately speculated about the reasons, perhaps stemming from the innate foundation of pure-blood wizards, or perhaps from the mature aura cultivated by those in power within their families. They never came to a definitive answer and could only silently acknowledge the gap between them.

Qiu Zhang stood quietly to the side, listening intently to their entire conversation, her thoughts growing increasingly complex. Unlike Marcos and the others' simple curiosity and awe, she was never interested in Puni's secrets or extraordinary strength.

Over time, she could always vaguely sense the loneliness that occasionally flickered in Puni's eyes.

That deep-seated aloofness and detachment, hidden beneath his casual and carefree exterior, is rarely noticed by anyone.

She desperately wanted to truly enter Puni's heart and dispel his loneliness when he was alone.

Rather than knowing all his secrets, she wanted to stay by his side and be someone he could let his guard down and rely on.

Her desire to get closer to him and to warm his heart grew stronger.