Bellatrix looked at the two books in front of her, her face rarely showing a trace of distress.
Perhaps because she realized her talent in the Dark Arts was a bit too good, she—having read many novels and even written quite a few—knew that characters with outstanding talent were either protagonists carrying destiny or villains meant to set off the protagonist, and she… was clearly unlikely to be the protagonist.
Moreover, the sentence she had seen in that book earlier kept lingering in her mind.
‘The Dark Arts itself is an abyss, and we are trapped deep within it, unable to extricate ourselves.
Unless…’
After a year of studying at Hogwarts, she still remembered this sentence vividly.
Perhaps due to the innate sense of distrust after awakening her memories, she always harbored great doubts about the ancestral Dark Arts of the House of Black.
By the way, during this past year, Bellatrix also discovered that she was indeed Bellatrix.
It sounded a bit tongue-twisting, but this was the truth she had discovered.
She hadn’t suddenly transmigrated into Bellatrix’s body; rather, right from the beginning, she had been reincarnated as Bellatrix, only that her memories of her past life had been suppressed, or rather, deliberately forgotten.
And her accidental awakening of her past life’s memories on the eve of the school term was not a coincidence either; she had seen a very interesting phenomenon in a book from Hogwarts.
Some Wizards might experience a second magical surge in their lives, and this second magical surge might bring her some unexpected gains.
And the memories of her past life were likely brought by this second surge.
This was also why the people of the House of Black did not discover that their child had been possessed, and why she so naturally accepted her own identity.
Now back at the Black Family, she had to face the study of the Dark Arts.
After all, this was a family tradition, and her talent in this area was also quite astonishing.
She also wanted to see how far she could elevate the Dark Arts in a relatively much safer place.
She wondered whether, in just two short months, she could reach the level of her year-long study of Potions.
She opened one of the books with doubt.
‘When you open this book, you must already have some understanding of the Dark Arts, but what I want to tell you is, do not rush—if you are not confident enough in your own rationality, do not practice those obviously bizarre Dark Arts.’
‘As a member of the House of Black, the first lesson I want to teach you is… learning to control yourself.’
‘You can learn up to whichever page you can turn to in this book, until you can no longer open it further; that is your limit, remember that!’
Seeing the admonition to younger generations on the page, Bellatrix’s already high vigilance rose to another level.
She flipped through it roughly and discovered that she could actually open the entire book, which made her wonder whether the words on the first page were an ancestral prank.
She did not aim too high and opened the first page.
The first Charm recorded on it was called “Flaying and Bone-Stripping Curse.”
Just listening to the name, it sounded extremely bizarre.
But looking at the introduction on the page, it wasn’t that exaggerated; instead, it gave a bizarre sense of truth.
It was introduced like this: Before the Middle Ages, some Wizards had no way to obtain precious and high-risk magic materials, so they set their sights on some ordinary creatures themselves.
At first, they used Potions to feed animals, and later found that magic fluctuations appeared on the surface and bones of the animals, so they created this Charm to collect materials.
But later, a crooked-minded Wizard thought, since animals’ skin and bones could become magic materials, what about Wizards?
So he decisively started on the Wizards around him, and sure enough…
Later, led by a group of visionary Wizards, he was brought to justice, but this method still became a means for some poor Wizards to obtain materials.
The House of Black recorded this Charm, of course, not out of envy for those pitiful materials.
They extensively deconstructed this Charm and, while secretly conducting countless experiments, used it to explore which parts of a Wizard’s body were rich in magic, drawing a corresponding anatomical diagram beside it.
If it were her previous life, she probably would have thrown up upon suddenly seeing this blood-hidden picture.
But now, her years of education allowed her to forcefully suppress her sense of disgust and instead look at the picture carefully.
As she looked on, she discovered that this drawing was just like the anatomical diagrams she had seen during her student days in her past life—nothing special, but rather worthy of being called precise.
Yes, she wanted to use the word precise to describe it.
Every inch of skin drawn, even every single organ on it, was so real that she felt she could even feel the texture of the skin upon touching it.
And after entering the Super Magic State, the sensation was even more obvious.
After studying tirelessly for a period of time, she turned to the next page, originally thinking it would be a new Charm, but instead, it was a footnote on the Charm by predecessors of the House of Black.
‘Hehe, this Charm is simply nonsensical; it completely fails to consider that the Wizard’s magic system itself is integrated, and mere flaying will only damage the material.’
‘Agreed, the biggest use of this Charm is probably for deterrence rather than acquisition.
When used, it works very well on traitors.’
‘I think this Charm is quite useless; after all, if you have that strong malicious desire to tear things apart, isn’t it better to use Reducto, and the side effects are even smaller.’
‘Are you talking about that desire to tear apart everything you see?
Isn’t it fine as long as you carefully raise a couple of potted plants?’
‘Am I the only one who chose to practice Reducto along the way?
The effect is outstanding.’
‘Watch your mind!’
‘I think it’s not bad for finding magic nodes; I’ve found a few…’
…
Several consecutive pages were notes from predecessors, and if you looked closely, there were also their improvement ideas, study suggestions, and so on.
For a young Wizard coming into contact with this Charm for the first time, the more they read on, the more disenchanted they would become with this Charm; after all, its side effects were also very easy to counteract.
Perhaps Bellatrix’s talent in the Dark Arts was indeed somewhat astonishing; in fact, before she turned to the second page, she had already mastered this Charm seven or eight-tenths, and after reading the predecessors’ notes, she instead bubbled up with some new ideas.
Wanting to practice this kind of Dark Arts couldn’t be done in the Room; fortunately, Cygnus had previously told her about the training Room at home for practicing Charms.
Holding the notes, she walked quickly toward there.
Along the way, seeing Andy, who had unexpectedly been driven out of the study, she didn’t greet her either, just walking toward the training Room with her head lowered.