“So what you’re saying is that there’s someone…”
“Who has been quietly watching humble little me ever since the first day of term.”
“Except he refuses to give his name, and instead begged you to hand-deliver this letter to me?”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.” Mason nodded frantically, shrinking his neck like a frightened quail as he darted his gaze between the senior student and the floor.
Miscalculation.
Mason had meticulously groomed himself, hoping to use letter delivery as an excuse to sneak into the Ravenclaw common room.
He never expected that after asking around all the way up to the Ravenclaw Tower, he still wouldn’t find the “Lita” Anthony had described.
Every senior student he asked, male or female, gave him a deeply odd look at the mention of her name.
Here on the second floor of the castle, just around the corner to the right of the Hospital Wing, stood Lita—a fourth-year Ravenclaw.
Standing eight feet tall with delicate features, a tiger-like back, and a bear’s waist, she towered over him like a solid mountain, blocking his path.
Such a powerful, formidable woman.
If she were just a bit shorter, she would perfectly fit the French definition of a savior.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mason glimpsed a few people crouching near the staircase, including a certain “Miss Beaver” who wished to remain anonymous.
Just as he was about to call for help, Lita took half a step forward.
“So why didn’t he bring it himself?” Lita demanded, her brow furrowing tightly.
She suspected this was someone’s idea of a prank.
“He’s afraid his burning passion will scorch you…
Don’t look at me like that, I’m just repeating his words!” Mason suddenly heard a rapid, powerful pounding heart, accompanied by Lita’s intense, burning gaze.
Fearing for his own purity, he didn’t want to linger a second longer.
“His name is Anthony Barker!
You can go confront him face-to-face!”
Dammit all, he was never taking a messenger quest again!
Seizing an opening while Lita was momentarily dazed—her heart apparently fluttering like a smitten fawn—Mason ducked past her and dashed toward the stairs without looking back.
However, Miss Beaver and the handful of Gryffindor girls he had spotted earlier were nowhere to be seen.
“I’m cooked!
My reputation is ruined!”
Mason gripped the advance payment for the job, grinding his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
[Amethyst Resonance Amulet]: Mana regeneration rate +15%.
If the stats hadn’t differed from the game, Mason would have thought some fellow transmigrator was pulling his leg.
According to Anthony, the amethyst on this amulet was excavated by his ancestors during an expedition to Egypt.
They had accidentally discovered that wearing it relieved the exhaustion from over-casting spells, passing it down to Anthony’s generation.
No way.
The day Potter got his hands on his ancestral Invisibility Cloak, Mason was going to borrow it to give Anthony a beatdown.
“Petite, delicate, soft-spoken Ravenclaw senior” my ass!
In your eyes, is King Kong considered a petite anime girl?!
Mason demanded proof of quest completion from Anthony, leaving him with a parting message: “Your true love will be along shortly.” But by the time he registered the quest with Elaine and returned to the Gryffindor common room, the way everyone looked at Mason had completely changed.
*You guys are making me feel like a stranger here.*
With a clear conscience, Mason found an armchair against the wall, closed his eyes, and began studying the newly acquired spell knowledge.
“Starlight Enchantment?”
A segment of memory played out in Mason’s mind:
Three thousand years ago, during the Twenty-First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
The reign of the Ramesses dynasty had come to an end, and the bloodline of the Pharaohs fell from grace.
The wizards who had once monopolized knowledge and martial power through colossal magical rituals scattered across the lands, and the magic capable of calling down starlight gradually faded into myth.
Above the vast, cold desert sands, a massive pyramid-shaped altar tower gleamed with a strange radiance at its peak.
Endless starlight gathered from across the night sky, condensing at the apex into a single beam that shone upon a huge, perfectly symmetrical amethyst.
A low rumbling echoed across the sea of sand.
The priests knew with absolute certainty that this sound did not originate from the ritual.
Countless black-robed camel cavalry, bearing torches and scimitars, swarmed over the altar before the giant amethyst could complete its enchantment.
Deprived of magical support, the ritual failed utterly, and the giant amethyst was smashed into countless fragments.
Snapping back to reality, Mason had already mastered the most basic version: [Minor Starlight Enchantment].
Once successfully cast, it could draw down starlight to enchant solid or liquid objects weighing no more than one kilogram, turning them into unique magical materials.
Mason pulled out a jar of common-grade mana ink from his bag, lost in thought.
“Starlight Enchantment needs to be performed on a clear night after 2:00 AM during a waning crescent moon…
I remember yesterday was the last quarter, so the waning crescent should be…
on Saturday?”
Mason had a lunar phase chart in his bag.
Tomorrow night was Professor Aurora’s Astronomy class, and Hermione had already prepared all the materials they might need earlier that morning, including his portion.
“If I miss it, I’ll have to wait until next month.
Let me check the site requirements for the enchantment…
Please don’t let it be building some multiblock structure—”
“Twelve runes signifying ‘transfer,’ ‘fixing,’ and ‘convergence’ arranged in a circle on an open site with a clear view of the night sky…
Place precious gems or metals of sufficient value at the four cardinal positions, totaling at least 50 grams…
Raised central area for the temporary altar, with a large enough marble basin to hold the subject to be enchanted, accompanied by the chanting of the incantation…” You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
The runes were already etched into Mason’s memory.
As for the precious metals, he wondered if Galleons or Sickles could be used instead; if so, he could borrow some from Potter or Elaine.
For the marble basin, he’d have to ask Hagrid.
As for the location, the edge of the Forbidden Forest would be ideal.
And just like that, everything was set!
If he could mass-produce common-grade mana ink, Mason wouldn’t have as many constraints when exploring Iron’s Spells ‘n Spellbooks magic.
Anthony, old pal, you’ve done fantastic work!
Time slipped by quietly in the midst of Mason’s eager anticipation.
Thursday morning in Transfiguration.
Class was about to start, but Harry and Ron had yet to show up.
Bored out of his mind, Mason finally cornered Hermione, who had been avoiding him like the plague lately.
“Her…
Hermione, did I accidentally offend you?” Mason asked, feeling somewhat bewildered.
Seeing Mason lean in, Miss Beaver quickly raised *A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration* to cover her face, peering with half an eye toward the classroom entrance as if searching for a towering figure.
Only after a long pause did she answer his question: “They said…
Senior Lita is very possessive…”
“What does that have to do with me?!” Mason’s head throbbed.
So you lot are the ones spreading rumors that I have a thing for Amazonian bodybuilders, huh?
“Aren’t you two…” Hermione murmured, her eyes widening into an o_O shape.
“I was delivering a love letter for someone else!
What on earth did you guys hear?!”
“‘Burning passion scorching you’…
or something like that?” Hermione swore she had intended to greet Mason earlier, but hearing what Mason had said to Lita scared her so badly she had scurried right back into the corner.
Mason ruffled his white hair, resting his forehead in one hand as he said weakly, “I didn’t want to say that line either—”
Harry, Seamus, and Ron rushed into the classroom right on the bell, getting caught red-handed by Professor McGonagall.
“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall, who had transformed back into her human form.
“Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back.
You have been warned.”
The tabby cat on the teacher’s desk didn’t hiss, but human McGonagall certainly did—which obviously proved cats were good and humans were evil.