Time passed in the blink of an eye, and the dim light inside the stone chamber gradually returned to normal.
Apart from Mord, who remained seated cross-legged on the floor, every trace of the magic circle had completely vanished.
Slowly opening his eyes, Mord let out a quiet sigh.
A lingering sense of fear remained in his heart.
He never wanted to experience that unbearable pain again.
Still, the rewards had been worth it.
“Dark Ember…”
He raised his right hand, and a tiny pale-black flame flickered to life in his palm.
The flame looked almost unreal.
Under the room’s lighting, it was barely visible and emitted no overwhelming magical aura.
Yet this tiny flame represented a completely new power.
It could infuse any fire spell with the Dark Ember, greatly increasing its destructive potential.
Although it was still weak for now, it would continue to grow stronger over time.
A smile appeared on Mord’s face.
“Time to test it.”
He stepped out of the Room of Requirement before quietly thinking,
“I need a room for practicing magic.”
When he entered again, the room had transformed completely.
The space now resembled a professional dueling classroom.
Rows of sturdy wooden training dummies stood neatly in place, while dueling circles and spellcasting lines were marked across the floor.
Mord couldn’t help giving the magical room an approving nod.
Its convenience truly lived up to its reputation.
Taking out his freshly cleaned wand, he pointed it toward one of the dummies.
“Incendio!”
A fist-sized yellow flame shot forward and struck the dummy’s arm.
The result was fairly ordinary.
The wood was only lightly scorched.
That was perfectly normal.
If a first-year wizard could destroy a solid practice dummy with a newly learned Fire-Making Charm, the spell would be far too overpowered.
Now it was time for the real experiment.
With a single thought, Mord activated the Dark Ember while casting the spell again.
“Incendio!”
This time, he clearly felt part of his magic transform into the Dark Ember before flowing into his wand.
The bright yellow flames instantly changed into an eerie gray.
The gray fire slammed into the dummy’s chest.
Sizzle!
The sound resembled hot oil splashing onto water.
Mord hurried closer to inspect the damage.
His eyes widened.
Instead of disappearing after impact, the gray flame stubbornly clung to the dummy’s chest, continuing to burn like a parasite attached to its host.
He silently counted the seconds.
Only after nearly thirty seconds did the flame finally fade away.
By then, the dummy’s chest had become a charred, blackened mess.
Deep pits covered the surface, and parts of the wood had already turned into charcoal.
“So this is the Dark Ember’s erosion effect…”
Excitement flashed across Mord’s face.
According to the system, the Dark Ember’s true strength lay in its ability to erode magic itself.
If it could produce this much damage against ordinary wood, then against magical defenses its effectiveness would surely be even greater.
Satisfied, Mord opened the system panel.
[Dark Ember Lv.1]
Effect: Adds a weak erosion effect to all fire magic.
Can devour ordinary flames to strengthen the Dark Ember itself.
Current Level: Too weak to absorb magical flames. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Can only consume ordinary fire.
Upgrade Cost: 100 Darkness Points.
Warning: The stronger the Dark Ember becomes, the greater the magical power required to control it.
Upgrade with caution.
After reading the description, Mord immediately abandoned the idea of upgrading.
If even the system warned him to be careful, then rushing to level it up would be foolish.
Besides, one hundred Darkness Points wasn’t a small amount.
He simply couldn’t afford it right now.
Fortunately, the Dark Ember could still grow naturally by devouring flames.
That reminded him of something.
Would the fire created by Incendio count as an ordinary flame?
He cast another Fire-Making Charm and summoned the Dark Ember into his other hand.
As he slowly brought the two flames together…
Nothing happened.
The Dark Ember remained completely motionless.
“So magical fire doesn’t count.”
An idea suddenly struck him.
Leaving the Room of Requirement, Mord returned to Ravenclaw Tower.
Only a handful of students were inside the common room.
He dragged a chair toward the fireplace.
A fire fueled by burning wood should qualify as an ordinary flame… right?
Summoning the Dark Ember once again, he slowly moved it toward the fireplace.
This time, something incredible happened.
Thin strands of orange fire were pulled away from the fireplace as though attracted by an invisible force.
One after another, they flowed directly into the Dark Ember.
Almost instantly, Mord felt the magical power inside his body being consumed much more rapidly.
Controlling the Dark Ember also became noticeably harder.
Several minutes later, the tiny black flame finally stopped absorbing the fire.
It was full.
Mord recalled it into his body.
A wave of heat immediately spread through him, making his entire body feel uncomfortably hot.
He understood what was happening.
The Dark Ember was refining the absorbed flames using his magical power.
All he had to do was endure the process.
Fortunately, he had plenty of free time.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Soon, the weekend arrived once again.
Today, Mord had arranged to meet Hermione.
The two planned to continue studying the Scouring Charm and discuss Animagus transformation theory.
Hermione was already waiting in the Great Hall when Mord arrived.
After finishing breakfast together, they headed toward the library.
However, before they had gone very far, someone stopped them.
It was Susan Bones.
She looked unusually nervous.
Her face was slightly red, and she struggled to find the right words.
After taking a deep breath, she softly said,
“Mord… could you come with me for a moment?” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Hermione instinctively stiffened.
She looked between Susan and Mord.
When did those two become friends?
Why did Susan want to speak with him alone?
Countless thoughts raced through Hermione’s mind.
Mord simply smiled.
“What is it, Susan? Are you joining us to study?”
Susan quickly shook her head.
“N-No… just… come with me.”
She glanced awkwardly at Hermione.
Mord turned toward Hermione.
“Go on ahead to the library. I’ll catch up in a few minutes.”
Hermione smiled gently.
“All right.”
She gave Susan a friendly smile before leaving without hesitation.
She understood that Mord wasn’t only her friend.
Once Hermione disappeared, Susan visibly relaxed.
She gestured for Mord to follow before leading him into a nearby empty room.
Apart from a large rectangular box standing in one corner, the room was completely empty.
Susan bit her lip nervously before finally speaking.
“I heard you joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.”
“I did.”
She nodded.
“If you’re going to play Quidditch… you’ll need a good broom.”
“Especially as a Seeker.”
“Even the smallest difference in speed can decide the outcome of a match.”
Mord briefly considered teasing her by saying that an ordinary broom was enough because of his flying skills.
However, seeing how nervous she already looked, he wisely gave up on the idea.
“You’re right.”
“I’ve actually been worrying about that.”
Hearing his answer, Susan visibly relaxed.
She carefully pushed the long wooden box toward him.
“You saved me during Flying Class.”
“I promised I’d thank you.”
“This is one of Comet’s newest broomsticks…”
Before she could continue, Mord gently shook his head.
“Susan, it’s too valuable.”
“I can’t accept a gift worth hundreds of Galleons.”
“I only helped you because it was the right thing to do.”
Susan froze.
She hadn’t expected him to refuse so firmly.
Afraid that he had misunderstood her intentions, she hurriedly explained,
“No, you’ve misunderstood!”
“It didn’t cost anything…”
As Susan continued explaining, Mord finally understood.
After the overwhelming success of the Nimbus 2000, the Comet Broom Company had attempted to develop a competing model.
Unfortunately, the prototype ended up being far too difficult for ordinary witches and wizards to control.
Since it wasn’t suitable for the general market, the entire project was canceled.
Only a handful of prototype broomsticks were ever produced before development ended.
One of those prototypes had later been given as a gift to Susan’s aunt by the owner of the Comet Company.
And the broom inside the box…
…was one of those rare prototypes.