Soul Fusion has reached 40%.
Perfect Brush has been obtained.
First Tier Purple Epic artwork has been created.
Congratulations! All conditions for Painting skill advancement have been met!
Level 1: Lifelike Imagination becomes Level 2: Boundless Imagination.
Your skills have been further enhanced!
If painting is the expression of the human soul, then now, you can actively invite others into your soul.
Knowledge Acquired: Mural
In an instant, with a gentle hum, a strange brilliance unfolded before Ethan's eyes like an ancient scroll! No, this wasn't an ordinary scroll but an immersive experience that could be touched and interacted with!
One moment he stood in a blazing desert, exchanging gold and spring water with Arabs riding camels. The next moment, he found himself in a snow-covered castle, gazing at a displaced knight from afar.
"Ethan?"
A concerned call snapped him back to attention, pulling him into the real world. He turned to meet Senior Penelope's worried gaze.
"I'm fine," Ethan smiled.
But in his cobalt-blue eyes flickered a brilliance more dazzling than stars! Like two faintly burning cold flames.
Ethan understood the incredible changes this advancement brought. If first-tier artworks affected reality, then second-tier artworks further blurred the boundary between reality and art! They could even allow real people to enter the artwork in reverse!
Immediately, Ethan had an inspiration: the world's most inescapable prison. What could be safer than trapping someone inside a flat painting?
Azkaban? That wasn't exactly Voldemort's personal army barracks, after all.
The newly acquired knowledge of Murals also confirmed this possibility. Ethan carefully reviewed the information flooding his mind and couldn't help but murmur with amazement: "Such complex artwork..."
Large-scale artworks that integrated various spells, summons, and environments shaped by enchanted pigments! Allowing entry from the outside world into the scenes you constructed. They required substantial funding. It could even be said that every mural was a golden painting built with money.
They needed even more of those secret treasures that couldn't be bought on any market. Those mysterious objects that were secretly hoarded and strictly forbidden by the wizarding world.
And currently, the easiest to obtain was the secret treasure hidden in the mansion beneath his feet: the legacy of the dark wizard ancestor Herpo!
Ethan ran his tongue across his teeth thoughtfully. Desire was like a cavity... no matter how much you probed it, it could never be filled.
Of course, Ethan himself had perfectly healthy teeth.
Ethan turned to face the puzzled Penelope and Miss Gemma, spreading his arms with genuine excitement: "I have wonderful news for you! Now I can create artworks that people can truly enter! Can you understand?"
Ethan gestured enthusiastically, his eyes sparkling with creative fervor. "For instance, next time you won't even need to come to a real mansion. You can directly experience battle royale inside my artwork! How about that? Isn't it absolutely amazing!"
Penelope and Gemma exchanged glances: "..."
That was truly so "amazing."
They never wanted to participate in the same competition as Ethan again in this lifetime. They didn't know what Ethan had enlightened them about, but they instinctively shivered, their spines growing cold. They felt that Ethan was becoming even more distant from normal humanity...
"As long as you're happy," Penelope looked at Ethan's excited expression and said with a strained smile.
Only when discussing art did Ethan act like an actual eleven or twelve-year-old child. No one would think that this very same child had just defeated Durmstrang's star player, Viktor Krum, and had truly won first place in the challenge through his own overwhelming power using an unprecedented and terrifying method.
Penelope could already imagine what kind of uproar Ethan Vincent's name would cause in various schools when this result was announced! Actually... maybe it was already causing an uproar at St. Mungo's right now.
Penelope recalled those contestants who were eliminated one after another with screams, praying for them in her heart: May you not encounter Ethan in your next life.
"So Ethan never bragged... we were the ones who were short-sighted all along..."
Just then, Slytherin's prefect, Gemma Farley, suddenly stepped forward. She extended her pale, elegant hand toward Ethan, and on her usually frost-cold face, a rare hint of a smile appeared.
"Ethan, congratulations on your upcoming victory in the challenge. Do you have any plans coming up? I'd like to invite you to spend Christmas at our house. Ever since I told my parents about you, they've been very interested and have been wanting to meet you."
Hearing this, Ethan looked up. On Gemma Farley's beautiful and proud face, Ethan saw the calm assessment of the situation and burning ambition. Like a dormant snake. Once it locked onto a target, it would strike swiftly, biting and never letting go.
Much more clever than that three-surname servant Malfoy.
Unfortunately, he already had an appointment.
Ethan replied politely: "Thank you for your gracious invitation, Miss Gemma. However, I've already made prior arrangements with someone else to spend Christmas together."
Thinking of this upcoming appointment, Ethan couldn't help but curve his lips upward. A smile that could genuinely be called "gentle" appeared on his face.
Gemma raised her eyebrows high. She had considered that she might be rejected... after all, there were only a few days left until Christmas. Making such an abrupt invitation at this juncture, it wouldn't be strange for Ethan to have other arrangements.
This invitation was just an "attitude." An attitude showing she wanted to stand on his side.
But! Gemma never expected that Ethan would use "another girl" to reject her!
Combined with the very human-like gentle smile on Ethan's face at this moment, Gemma ground her teeth, feeling her jaw ache terribly. Looking down at the innocent-faced Ethan, she spoke slowly: "Maybe I remembered wrong, but don't you have the surname Vincent rather than 'Weasley'?"
Ethan tilted his head in confusion: "No, my surname is Vincent?"
"Hehe." Farley let out two cold laughs of unclear meaning.
Before Ethan could react, she forcibly grabbed Ethan's hand, shook it up and down, and declared: "In any case, the Farley family welcomes you anytime, Mr. Vincent."
Then she released Ethan's hand with a sharp snap and returned to her previous cold and dignified appearance, as if the willfulness she had just occasionally displayed wasn't her at all.
Ethan stared at her blankly: "..."
Can't understand you Slytherins.
After telling the two "Actually, I hid another Portkey in one of the toilets on the third floor, you should go find it quickly," Ethan watched them leave together with grim faces like they were heading to an execution and sighed: "How modest, not fighting or competing. This is the excellent spirit of our Hogwarts."
He gave himself a mental thumbs up for kindly providing them a chance to pass.
After sending the two away, Ethan's gaze fell on the first-floor study. Now, it was time to claim the secret treasure.
What a pity. Having been absorbed in the challenge earlier, now there was no one to witness this thousand-year-old miracle with him.
At the same time, right behind Ethan in the hall ruins, a finger twitched. The Slytherin student who had been knocked unconscious by Gemma at the very beginning of the competition, Hamburg Carrow, opened his eyes in confusion.
His gaze happened to catch Ethan's back as he entered the study. His eyes suddenly became sharp and focused! All the previous tragic memories surged into his mind. His features instantly twisted and deformed with extreme hatred!
Hamburg suddenly clawed through the rubble, crawling toward the study on all fours in a twisted, obsessed manner!
"Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan! Ethan!"