When the old wizard who called himself Dark Sed tried to force the so-called Ascension Potion into Charles’s mouth, Charles’s pupils suddenly contracted.
His Infinite Deduction System did not allow him to deduce knowledge unconditionally.
It required something called Deduction Points, which Charles obtained through eating.
The more precious and valuable the food Charles consumed, the more Deduction Points he could obtain.
Ordinary food only provided a pitiful number of points, but if he ate something valuable, such as gold or silver jewelry, the number of Deduction Points he received would increase dramatically.
As for digestion, that wasn’t something he needed to worry about.
As long as he swallowed something, the system would automatically convert it into Deduction Points.
Even if he swallowed a gold coin, as long as it didn’t tear his esophagus or throat, Charles could convert it through the system with a single thought, and it wouldn’t place any burden on his body.
However, Charles had never tested whether the system could work on potions from the magical world.
Especially considering what Dark had said.
The old wizard had already experimented on seventy-three people before him.
Among them had been both wizards and Muggles, and judging from Dark’s criteria for selecting his test subjects, none of those people should have been idiots.
Yet even so, every single one of them had died during Dark’s experiments.
It was obvious what kind of abomination this Ascension Potion was.
As long as there was even the slightest possibility of failure, Charles had absolutely no intention of gambling his life on whether his system could convert the Ascension Potion after it was forced into his mouth.
As the potion approached his lips, an unprecedented sense of danger suddenly erupted in Charles’s heart.
His eyes instantly became vacant.
Sharp explosions and thunderous booms suddenly began echoing throughout the underground chamber.
An invisible force spread outward from Charles’s body like a violent storm, sweeping through the room and violently repelling everything around him.
The sudden phenomenon startled Dark, nearly causing him to drop the bottle of Ascension Potion onto the floor.
But after his initial surprise, an even more intense expression of delight appeared in Dark’s eyes.
“Magical overload?”
“Aha! You actually possess magical talent! You’re a young wizard?!”
“Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”
“I thought you were a Muggle, which would have somewhat affected the effectiveness of the Ascension Potion. But I never expected even this final imperfection to be filled!”
“Charles Evans, with a mind like yours, you’re basically the young Dumbledore.”
“I couldn’t find Dumbledore to use as my experimental subject, yet somehow I found you instead.”
“It seems even fate itself is protecting me, ensuring that this great ascension will be completed by my hands!”
Immediately afterward, Dark waved his wand.
Charles, who was in the middle of his magical overload, suddenly felt as though the air around him had transformed into a swamp.
The magic surging out of his body was directly frozen in place.
The violent winds inside the underground chamber stopped.
The thunderous roar froze in midair.
Then, little by little, everything dissipated into nothingness.
The anticipation Charles had felt because of his magical outburst instantly vanished.
At the same time, he was filled with dread at the casual display of power from this old wizard named Dark.
According to Charles’s memories of the original Harry Potter story, a young wizard’s accidental magical outburst was enough to leave even an adult wizard scrambling to deal with it.
And in special circumstances—such as when the young wizard’s life was threatened or when they suffered a severe mental breakdown—the magical outburst could become even more violent.
Under such circumstances, even an adult wizard could potentially be killed!
Yet Dark had neutralized Charles’s magical outburst with effortless ease.
That alone proved that his strength was far beyond that of an ordinary adult wizard.
And when Charles considered the fact that Dark had conducted his so-called Ascension experiments on more than seventy people without being captured by the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, it became clear that even elite Aurors probably weren’t a match for him.
This old bastard was absolutely not someone Charles could contend with right now.
Having realized this, Charles sighed and abandoned the idea of resisting him by force.
Seeing the look of resignation on Charles’s face, Dark grinned and spoke ominously.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already adjusted this version of the Ascension Potion.”
“The success rate will definitely be much higher than the previous version.”
“If you’re lucky enough, you might actually survive and complete the ascension.”
Charles remained speechless.
Dark had probably said the exact same thing to the previous seventy-something test subjects.
Its credibility was obvious.
All Charles could do was hope that his system was powerful enough to work on this bizarre Ascension Potion as well.
At this moment, Dark opened the bottle, forced Charles’s mouth open, and poured the entire bubbling bottle of Ascension Potion down his throat.
The moment the Ascension Potion entered his mouth, Charles suddenly began struggling violently, his eyes almost rolling into the back of his head.
It was disgusting.
Absolutely fucking disgusting.
Charles swore that even if all the years of his previous and current lives were added together, he had never tasted anything this horrible!
The flavor was like the fermented foam produced by piling together rotten sea fish, octopuses, and countless other sea creatures and letting them rot together.
And then there was the thick, sticky texture.
It felt like mucus secreted by some kind of marine creature.
Charles could practically feel it stretching into strings inside his throat!
Along with it came an instinctive wave of nausea and terror.
Charles violently twisted around in his chair, seemingly desperate to shove his fingers down his throat and claw out the Ascension Potion he had just swallowed.
White foam was already spilling from the corners of his mouth because of the overwhelming nausea.
Seeing this scene, a powerful look of disappointment appeared in the old wizard Dark’s eyes.
He had already witnessed this sight more than seventy times.
Every test subject who drank the Ascension Potion experienced intense pain and nausea before beginning to foam at the mouth.
Then came an even more violent reaction.
Until eventually, their bodies underwent horrific mutations and collapsed, turning into a pool of foul-smelling pus.
After capturing Charles and personally witnessing his magical overload, Dark had become convinced that Charles was comparable to Albus Dumbledore in his youth.
As a result, his expectations for Charles were extremely high.
If even someone with such extraordinary potential couldn’t complete the ascension through the Ascension Potion, could his potion truly succeed?
Could it really be as those people in the Order of Merlin who mocked him had claimed?
Was it all just an illusion?
The delusions of a madman?
Blood vessels covered Dark’s eyes as his expression became increasingly obsessive and fanatical.
He began muttering frantically.
“No!”
“No!”
“I’ve seen it!”
“I saw the enormous forms hidden beneath the dark heavens in my dreams.”
“I’ve heard them!”
“In my madness, I heard those ancient whispers coming from the darkness of the world.”
“The source of magic… the supreme will…”
“They exist!”
“They must exist!”
“My Ascension Potion will definitely allow humans to reach that level!”
“How could I fail?”
“I won’t!”
“I simply need more test subjects!”
“A hundred!”
“A thousand!”
“Ten thousand!”
“No matter how many more people die, I must witness that magnificent sight!”
With that, Dark gripped his wand and looked coldly at Charles.
He had already decided to clean up the scene and search for his next experimental subject.
But at that exact moment, Charles’s condition caused Dark to freeze.
After painfully foaming at the mouth, Charles’s body did not begin mutating and collapsing like the previous seventy-something test subjects.
Instead, he remained completely intact.
Hope once again appeared in Dark’s eyes.
And at that very moment, Charles suddenly opened his eyes.
His gaze contained not only the relief of having narrowly escaped death, but also uncontrollable ecstasy.
“Boss, do you have any more of this stuff?”
“Give me another bottle!”
(End of Chapter)