Chapter 137: Acquiring Various Skills

At night, Hogwarts Castle felt somewhat eerie simply because its grounds were unimaginably vast. Furthermore, there were no streetlights here, leaving everything pitch black.

Of course, Ma Jun was not afraid of such an environment; he was merely letting his imagination wander as he walked down the corridors.

The upper classes of European medieval times had essentially all lived in such ancient castles, illuminated back then only by oil lamps. In the dead of night, they must have felt a profound sense of emptiness.

The corridors were dead silent, with only the echoes of Ma Jun’s own footsteps bouncing back. Because he was unfamiliar with the route, he had to hold his wand up like a flashlight.

To be honest, the illumination effect of the Wand-Lighting Charm was not particularly impressive.

"Put that wand down, you damned brat!" shouted a knight-like figure from a portrait on the wall, his eyes stung by the glare.

Ma Jun shrugged. "So sorry to disturb you. If you've got any complaints, come hit me!"

Daring to be so arrogant even as a mere painting, Ma Jun refused to show the fellow any respect.

The Hogwarts library was located on the fourth floor. There was a rumor that Ravenclaw House possessed a small, private library of their own. Ma Jun had previously asked Professor Flitwick, the Head of Ravenclaw House, about this, but he had stated that no such place existed.

The library had a librarian named Irma Pince. She was a thin, elderly woman who looked rather like an undernourished vulture. Ma Jun did not underestimate this lady, for library keepers were usually formidable individuals.

Even at midnight, Madam Pince remained inside the library, acting as though this place were her own home.

When she saw Ma Jun, she appeared relatively friendly. "You must be the new professor, Mr. Ma?"

"That's right, it's me!" Ma Jun replied politely. "I'm terribly sorry to disturb you, but I've come to look for some books to read. As you know, books are the crystallization of human wisdom! Reading them is just like admiring the dazzling starry sky."

Hearing these words, Madam Pince clearly found herself in deep agreement, and she nodded repeatedly. "Yes, exactly. Do you need me to show you the way? I know the exact placement of every single category of book here by heart. Over there is the Restricted Section; students require teacher permission to enter, but there are many fascinating books in there. Care to take a look?"

"No need, I'll browse by myself!" Ma Jun declined her warm kindness, raised his wand, and strolled into the bookshelves.

After wandering around for about half an hour, Ma Jun returned with a full harvest. CARRYING a stack of books, he bid farewell to Madam Pince and left the library.

Descending to the third floor, as he passed the entrance to Dumbledore’s office, Ma Jun paused outside for a brief moment. He stared closely at an ugly stone gargoyle and studied it intently for a short while before moving on.

Upon returning to his quarters, Ma Jun couldn't wait to dump all the books onto his desk.

These books included a sufficiently thick encyclopedia of spells, which recorded numerous non-dark magic incantations alongside various specialized spell books, as well as several books on potion-making.

Ma Jun certainly hadn't forgotten that this realm also contained all sorts of miraculous potions which could prove extremely useful. Take the Polyjuice Potion, for instance—upon consumption, it allowed one to transform into someone else's appearance for a short period, altering everything from physical build and facial features to the voice.

Even though the materials for such potions were practically impossible to gather and brew in other dimensions, they could be crafted in this world and taken elsewhere for use.

Lighting a cigar, Ma Jun leaned back in his chair, slumping down comfortably while cradling a book and reading at a leisurely pace.

"Legilimens! Oh, this spell is rather nice. Once cast, it allows one to access the memories of the target! This truly is a fantastic skill for interrogation!"

"Apparition! A skill identical to teleportation. Master this, and I'll be able to teleport! It's a pity this magic cannot be used within Hogwarts. I can't test it right now..."

When it came to learning spells, Ma Jun generally only needed to understand the casting method to execute them, often without even needing to voice the incantation. Consequently, he was desperately eager to experience the sensation of instantaneous movement immediately.

"It says here that the range of Apparition varies according to the caster's power. Ah, ordinary wizards can only use it within the scale of a single country, whereas someone like Dumbledore can span continents. That being said, at least on Earth, I could casually appear at the South or North Pole with a maximum of two teleports! That is utterly badass! Haha..."

The more he read, the more restless Ma Jun became, but he had to exercise restraint; Apparition was forbidden at Hogwarts.

"And this one—Animagus, which allows a person to transform into an animal. Let me see if there's any possibility of upgrading it to be as powerful as the Seventy-Two Transformations!" Ma Jun pondered, staring at the explanatory text on the page. "Hmm... Through prolonged magical practice and the continuous modification of one's muscles, bones, and organs, a specific non-magical creature is locked in. Subsequently, a bodily reflex is formed, allowing the body to switch between two states upon casting!"

"Ha... Judging by this, the Animagus transformation might actually cause some physical damage?" Full of doubts, Ma Jun continued reading. "The human body cannot accept an excessive number of altered states; otherwise, it will lead to physical collapse! Therefore, all Animagi are restricted to a single creature!"

"Analyzed this way, this spell falls far short of the Seventy-Two Transformations!" Ma Jun felt a mild sense of regret. "This charm merely imposes a fixed physical alteration, rather than true, arbitrary shapeshifting! Once learned, it's like chewing chicken ribs—flavorless yet hard to discard! With only two fixed states, someone is bound to notice sooner or later! Forget it, I won't practice this spell!"

After figuring out several spells he had long coveted, Ma Jun began the task of copying.

Hogwarts was a school with a long history, and it constantly kept pace with the times. Here, electronic devices and equipment, including mobile phones and televisions, were utterly useless. For instance, if Ma Jun took out his phone, the screen would only display static.

Because the school possessed various protective enchantments jointly cast by numerous professors, if Ma Jun wanted to break through them by force, not only was it unnecessary, but it would also consume a vast amount of time. By then, without having accomplished anything else, he would already find himself fighting that old fox Dumbledore. Dumbledore certainly wouldn't allow anyone to run amok at Hogwarts.

However, Ma Jun needed to teach these spells to the four Mr. Qians. Since he couldn't possibly recite them to each one individually, he had no choice but to copy them out.

Fortunately, spell equivalents to copy-and-paste existed for use, requiring only a minor expenditure of energy.

It took the better part of the night to finish copying all the incantations. Even with Ma Jun's formidable mental strength, he began to feel drowsy—ordinarily, going without sleep for several days and nights would never leave him fatigued.

With the term just beginning and some time still left before his first class, there were no other pressing matters today, and the library books didn't need to be returned immediately. Ma Jun decided to get a good night's sleep and look for the house-elves to rustle up some food after waking up.

"Oh, and those combat spell skills, commonly referred to as Dark Arts—I'll go to the library to borrow books and study them in a few days. Once I've mastered all these abilities, in the eyes of ordinary people, I'll practically be an immortal being! Hehe!"