Looking at the new text appearing on the system panel, Ciel showed surprise. After Occlumency advanced to the Platinum level, it actually gave him a new ability? Gold level Sixth Sense Enhancement?
His face flashed with strangeness as he involuntarily touched his previously sore brow. He had a feeling that a new "eye" had opened at his brow. But whether through finger touch or looking in mirrors, nothing appeared different.
Connecting this to the Sixth Sense Enhancement ability on the system panel, could there be some connection between them?
Soon after, he stopped guessing. Whether there was a connection or not, he would know by trying. Occlumency activated. After reaching Platinum level, this mental control art went deeper. He felt every strand of mental power seemed under his control. Even previously untouched deeper mental forces were now excavated.
His thinking became sharper, his mind clearer. But after running Occlumency, the most significant change was him feeling his mental power truly condense into a mental pupil at his brow!
When he focused attention on it, immediately the entire world dimmed. What he saw was no longer the material world, but a strange world mixed with countless intricate lines and colours. Indescribably strange sensations arose in his heart.
Soon after, he suddenly recalled descriptions from the original story about Divination Professor Trelawney. Her Divination classes were always criticised by students. Students couldn't see anything valuable from tea leaf distributions and various random omens.
Even Hermione, who always respected professors in the original story, was quite angry after Divination classes. But Trelawney told Hermione's enquiries that she lacked talent.
Later, during Umbridge's takeover of Hogwarts, that toad had also troubled Trelawney. Umbridge mockingly said if Trelawney claimed to have the Inner Eye, she should demonstrate it. Of course Trelawney couldn't demonstrate this.
Most people in the original story considered Trelawney a fraud. But actually, Trelawney's prophecies through various methods, whether tea leaves, tarot cards, or words spoken in mysterious states, though she herself wasn't certain, all came true. She was a true Seer!
Recalling these events, he showed a thoughtful expression: "Trelawney claimed to have the Inner Eye. With this Inner Eye, she could see worlds ordinary people couldn't see, even see fate. Could her so called Inner Eye be this mental pupil in my spiritual world, or something similar?"
But soon after, he still had various doubts. Though he could see these lines and colours, he couldn't make sense of them at all, much less make accurate prophecies about major magical world events like Trelawney.
Moreover, wizards like Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Snape had much higher Occlumency mastery than him. Their sixth sense should be stronger, and what this mental pupil observed should be clearer. Yet even they couldn't glimpse fate at all. How did Trelawney do it? In the original story, she seemed not even to know Occlumency!
But soon, since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped obsessing over Trelawney and the "Inner Eye". Though he couldn't understand the mental pupil's world, his enhanced sixth sense naturally benefited him. When facing certain dangers, sixth sense might help him avoid them in advance.
Besides this, he also saw on his system panel that Demeter Ritual Magic was much brighter than before.
"It's said that in the Olympian era, gods had high requirements for ritual priests. They wanted those with extremely sensitive feelings who could receive divine oracles. Could this refer to having a super strong sixth sense? So after my sixth sense improved, I'm closer to ancient priest standards. Therefore, Demeter Ritual Magic for worshipping the fertility goddess also improved in mastery."
He nodded quite satisfactorily at this change. Demeter Ritual Magic mastery improvement was still very crucial for him. Not to mention accelerating plant maturation once every three months; the last time ritual magic mastery improved, it even let him bless some seeds through the silver chalice.
This directly saved countless selection and cultivation efforts, improving seed quality. If Demeter Ritual Magic could continue improving another level, perhaps there would be even greater surprises.
"Overall, this Occlumency advancement, even not counting mysterious things like sixth sense, was definitely highly profitable."
His mouth curved into a smile. But the next moment, sudden stabbing pain erupted at his brow. His smile instantly froze. He never expected that just after getting Sixth Sense Enhancement and opening the mental pupil in his spiritual world, there would be a reaction.
What happened? Then he opened his mental pupil again. The world before his eyes again became countless lines and chaotic colours. But when he looked up at the sky, he could see countless dense black lines covering Hogwarts' sky. Large blocks of disturbing, murky colours also churned above, like thick dark clouds pressing down!
Soon after, his brow felt sore, and he involuntarily exited this strange vision. His previous satisfaction and joy were instantly shrouded in confusion: "What exactly happened? Is it Quirrell? What did he do?"
At this time, a night had passed. Young wizards no longer had classes to attend. All remaining time was for final exam preparation. This also meant today was when exam schedules would be posted.
He saw the Hufflepuff common room door open. Professor Sprout entered with an extremely grim expression, posting an exam schedule in the most conspicuous place. With his eyesight, he easily read the schedule's contents.
Exams for Charms, History of Magic, Transfiguration, and Flying – these subjects had no problems. Exam times, classrooms, and detailed information were clearly written. But after scanning the entire schedule, he discovered it lacked one subject's exam information.
He couldn't help asking Professor Sprout: "Aunt, where's the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam schedule? Why isn't it on the table?"
This question made Professor Sprout's face even gloomier. She said through gritted teeth: "Because this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts assessment is different from previous years. This year's first year students must all enter the Forbidden Forest for practical combat!"
Hearing this news, even though he was prepared, he couldn't help showing a shocked expression. Young wizards entering the Forbidden Forest? This was this year's exam content? Was this insane?!
He could enter the Forbidden Forest because his strength far exceeded that of students in the same year. Most crucially, his vitality was too formidable; nothing in the Forbidden Forest could kill him. But what about other young wizards? No matter how talented, they were still fragile.
Young Snape had nearly died under werewolf Lupin. Though the Forbidden Forest didn't have many dangers comparable to werewolves, there were definitely quite a few. Just Acromantulas alone could easily devour an entire house's young wizards.
Making first year students enter the Forbidden Forest for final exams, besides being insane, how else could this behaviour be described? "How could there be such an arrangement?"
Facing his inquiry, Professor Sprout took a deep breath: "He went too far. This past week, Professor Quirrell's reputation has been at its peak, his relationship with Minister Fudge like glue. The entire magical world's media, large and small, have all been promoting Professor Quirrell. So Professor Quirrell raised a question: the man-eating monster in this disappearance incident wasn't particularly powerful; why couldn't anyone handle it for so long? He believes it's because the British magical world's Defence Against the Dark Arts education has been lacking for too long. From school onwards, wizards never truly learnt to deal with darkness and danger. So Professor Quirrell proposed arranging a safe venue at the Forbidden Forest's perimeter without lethal danger. Let children truly learn combat from the first year onwards, avoiding being powerless when facing real dangers like disappearance incidents."
He was even more astonished: "Headmaster Dumbledore didn't object?"
Professor Sprout's face showed complex expressions of anger and mockery: "The Ministry approved Quirrell's application. The Board of Governors also agreed with Quirrell's idea. Even surveys of student parents showed agreement in the majority. Quirrell built too much momentum. Everyone was also scared by the previous man-eating monster, truly feeling it necessary for young wizards to learn self-protection methods. Moreover, Quirrell obtained Harry Potter's signed agreement. All parties agreed; even the saviour thought it very necessary. Even if Dumbledore is Hogwarts headmaster, what could he do?"
Hearing this, he slowly recovered, his mood complex. Ultimately, the situation became this way for one simple reason. Dumbledore, he went too far! He set up Philosopher's Stone trials in Hogwarts, wanting to test Voldemort's recovery level and more importantly, to temper saviour Harry Potter.
But Quirrell used momentum and pressure, plus exploited Harry's trust in him, to reverse the situation. Now it was Quirrell's turn to have home advantage. This was already an open conspiracy.
Obviously, on exam day, Quirrell would definitely arrange things to trap Dumbledore and all Hogwarts professors in the Forbidden Forest. Then he would directly enter the trials and take the Philosopher's Stone.
Dumbledore had to choose between protecting the Philosopher's Stone while letting young wizards face mortal danger or protecting young wizards while the Philosopher's Stone was in peril. He had really gone too far.
He exhaled softly and shook his head lightly. He never expected that near year's end, the Philosopher's Stone plot would develop like this.
But soon after, he recovered from this shocking news. Whether Voldemort could get the Philosopher's Stone, what did that matter to him? If the sky fell, Dumbledore would hold it up. After all, this situation originally arose because Dumbledore deliberately ignored Quirrell, wanting to use him as a whetstone. How to solve it was Dumbledore's problem.
But Dumbledore still held the Elder Wand and hadn't been cursed by the Resurrection Stone ring's fatal curse yet. Even if Voldemort truly got the Philosopher's Stone and recovered his body, he couldn't cause too much trouble before Dumbledore.
Moreover, the Philosopher's Stone wasn't some game item that worked with a right click. It needed complex operations to create a new body. And this was Hogwarts, Dumbledore's absolute home ground. If Voldemort could escape with the Philosopher's Stone from here, Dumbledore might as well find some tofu to bash his head against.
So however bad the situation, it couldn't get that bad. Instead, after learning this news, his eyes brightened, finding something beneficial for himself.
Since Quirrell was using this to tie up Dumbledore, now Quirrell's main energy was definitely focused on Forbidden Forest arrangements. Moreover, before final exams arrived, Quirrell had to ensure young wizards stayed safe.
Otherwise, if any young wizard was seriously injured or died at Hogwarts, Dumbledore could immediately find an excuse to veto Quirrell's proposal. All of Quirrell's hard work, building momentum and winning over all parties, would be wasted.
This meant even if Quirrell wanted to kill him, now wasn't the time. As long as he didn't go to the Forbidden Forest and walk into Quirrell's trap, he could have a relatively safe period.
From now until the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, there was only one week. For others, one week passed in a flash. Even with Harry's talent, one week couldn't teach any powerful spells for breakthrough progress. But for him, one week could sometimes bring transformative changes.
Especially after he calculated the time, his eyes brightened even more: "The timing is about right. The Protean Fruit on Sprout Island should be ripe, right?"
His gaze fell on the system panel. Legendary Life had already undergone one sublimation, but Legendary Strength was still stuck at the one sublimation node. Perhaps this would be an opportunity? If Legendary Strength could sublimate once more, whatever was in the Forbidden Forest would tremble before this unmatched power!
The next moment, he took out the Portkey. In the spinning sensation, he arrived at Sprout Island.
[Protean Fruit (Silver, mature)]
[Harvest available]