Flamel Castle, third basement level, Spell Training Room, Link's Apparition Spell training was still continuing.
Crackle!
Intermittent, faint explosion sounds kept echoing through the training room.
Along with those sounds, Link's figure holding his wand kept vanishing and reappearing again and again in the wide spell training chamber, and every time he appeared, the location was different.
After a long while, the explosions finally subsided.
Bloodshot veins spread through Link's eyes as he kicked open the safety box in the corner.
Inside the box, the Mind-Refreshing Potions and Hunger-Suppressing Nutrient Solutions that had once filled it were now down to just a few bottles; the rest had long since become empty vials thrown haphazardly into the bottom.
Link casually pulled out two tubes, one potion, one nutrient liquid, poured them together straight into his mouth, and then continued his Apparition Spell training.
His training method was actually very simple, just as described before, continuously casting Apparition within the limited space of the spell room, teleporting again and again.
Though, due to the system's nature, once the Apparition Spell was inscribed into the system and leveled up, there was no risk of casting errors or self-harm.
Even so, Link loathed this kind of leveling method to the core.
The reason was simple, every successful casting of the Apparition Spell only gave him single-digit experience points, a pitiful drop in the bucket compared to that long, torturously slow experience bar.
It was just too dull and too boring.
But Link had no other choice.
Wizards' research on space was pathetically scarce, and because spatial study belonged to the highest, most specialized tier of magical science, still unadapted for general learning, Link simply couldn't understand those deep, complex research notes, and naturally couldn't gain experience through study.
So, he could only rely on the old-fashioned way, practice makes perfect.
And to raise the Apparition Spell level as much as possible before the new term began, Link had been training nearly twenty-four hours a day, nonstop.
When he got sleepy, he drank a vial of Mind-Refreshing Potion.
When he got hungry, he drank a Nutrient Solution.
By now, after such long, high-intensity training in a room without any change of light or shadow, Link had completely lost track of time and day.
The only thing in his mind now was the casting sequence of the Apparition Spell, and that experience bar on his status panel, inching forward at a speed too slow for the naked eye to see.
[76%…81%…93%…99%…]
No one knew how long it had been.
When Link mechanically waved his wand and teleported once again, a long-awaited message finally flashed across his retina.
[Apparition Spell lv3 -> lv4 Success!]
A flood of knowledge poured in, making his temples swell slightly, but Link just took a deep breath, closed his eyes, joy spreading over his face.
He opened his data panel as fast as he could, and began allocating points.
[Skill Point ×1 confirmed for use]
[Apparition Spell lv4 -> lv5 Success!]
[Golden Skill Point ×1 confirmed for use]
[Breaking level cap…]
[Apparition Spell lv5 -> lv6 Success!]
Buzz~
It felt like being struck on the back of the head by an invisible hammer.
A surge of information flooded his mind, bringing sharp pain and a deafening hum in his ears.
That was the price of allocating points consecutively, the knowledge for levels 4, 5, and 6 all rushing in at once.
But Link didn't care about the pain.
On the contrary, he even felt a kind of pleasure.
That pain, every throb of it, reminded him that his long, dull grind had finally come to an end.
Now it was time to reap the rewards of victory.
Grinning broadly, Link fell backward. The bat-like creature behind him immediately caught his body, gently lowering him onto Arkam, who had just slithered over.
"Hissss~!" (Congratulations, Link!)
Arkam said happily.
As a snake, he couldn't really understand what was happening, but he could sense Link's mood.
As long as Link was happy, so was he.
Link lay quietly on Arkam's coils until the pain in his head faded, then raised his wand again.
Pop!
A faint white light flashed, and Link suddenly appeared twenty meters away.
Feeling the magic coursing through him, Link smiled with satisfaction.
The effect of Apparition Spell lv6 was basically just as he'd expected, it had reached the point where he could cast it silently and without a wand, using it like a blink.
However, that blink could only be performed within a hundred-meter range, and the interval between casts, or rather, the cooldown, was a full five minutes.
That was the farthest limit Link had tested; the greater the distance, the harder the spell.
Of course, in an emergency, he could break that limit, but the price would be severe physical damage.
"Phew!"
Link exhaled deeply. As his nerves relaxed, drowsiness immediately swept over him.
That was only natural.
Though the Mind-Refreshing Potion replenished energy and drove off sleepiness, it still left residual fatigue.
Content, Link didn't resist the wave of sleepiness, but lay back down on Arkam's coiled body and drifted off without hesitation.
That sleep could only be described as deathlike, he slept until his whole body felt soft and heavy. Clearly he had overslept, and only then did he groggily get up and push open the heavy door.
At once, the little house-elf Button, who had been waiting outside, rushed toward him, eyes brimming with tears, too choked up to even speak.
Link raised a hand, stopping the words Button was about to say, and spoke first, "First, go tell Mother and Emily that I'm awake. Then prepare hot water, I need a proper soak."
Button nodded through his tears without even wiping them, and was just about to snap his fingers and teleport away when Link called out again, "Wait, how long have I been shut in?"
"Sixteen days! Young master, you've been in the training chamber for sixteen full days! Today's already August 29th! Button's been waiting outside the whole time, Button…"
Button immediately stopped moving and began tearfully rambling on.
Unfortunately, Link, his body still limp and tingling, had no patience for it. He raised his hand to stop him.
"I got it. Just do what I said."
With that, Link headed toward the bathhouse, Arkam and Yoyo following behind.
———
An hour later, Link lay lazily in the steaming pool, eating grapes Emily handed him while Krell, standing outside the bath, calmly reported what had happened during his seclusion.
Since the storyteller was Krell, naturally he began with the situation in Germany.
From his account, Link learned that Dumbledore had fulfilled his promise. With the International Confederation of Wizards and the German Ministry of Magic turning a selective blind eye, the markets that should have belonged to the League of Despicables had now all been taken over by the Beckman Family, or rather, by the Flamel Family.
At present, the Flamel family's businesses and influence in Germany were growing rapidly. Within half a year, they were expected to completely replace the old League of Despicables, seize huge profits, and rise as the new powerhouse of the German wizarding world.
As for the situation in Britain, that was even more entertaining.
The battle between Fudge and Old Barty hadn't ceased just because Link went into seclusion.
At first they'd still held back a bit, but soon both sides had torn all pretense away. Every day they summoned Wizengamot members for meetings to argue, and offstage they crazily bribed and manipulated the media to attack one another.
Most amusingly, both sides had managed to make fools of themselves in the process.
For example, Fudge was caught dozing off at a press conference, the photo went public, and he was ridiculed as senile and unfit to continue as Minister for Magic.
Old Barty's case was even worse, every grammatical error and verbal slip he'd made recently had been compiled and printed in a set of magical photos published by the Daily Prophet, turning him into a public joke.
By now, no one even mentioned how Old Barty had once turned a blind eye during Death Eater trials, or the matter of his Death Eater son.
After all, every official in the Ministry knew that everyone had benefited from that affair. If they dug too deep, they'd all be dragged down with him, no one wanted mutual destruction.
In short, the struggle between the two factions gave all the wizards of Britain, and even the whole world, a huge spectacle to gossip about.
The British magical media, in particular, had gorged themselves on it.
The only ones who truly suffered were the Wizengamot members.
They had once enjoyed their easy posts, some already retired and at home. But now, with Fudge and Barty sending them meeting invitations every day, they dared not refuse for fear of bad press, and it drove them mad.
Several elderly members had even taken sick leave and hidden away in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies.
By now, that power struggle was nearing its end, or rather, Old Barty's faction was about to win.
Because Fudge simply couldn't persuade Madam Bones to overturn Dumbledore's testimony.
Under such circumstances, Fudge had become the perfect symbol of foolishness and corruption.
As a result, though Fudge remained Minister in name, his real authority had been drastically curtailed.
At least a dozen departments, including the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of International Magical Cooperation, had begun to ignore his orders, instead following Old Barty and his allies.
Now, the only departments still firmly under Fudge's control were the Auror Office and the Department of Mysteries.
The Auror Office was essentially the army, the military power.
The Department of Mysteries was responsible for containing and researching dangerous or precious magical artifacts, the equivalent of a national academy of sciences.
On the surface, Fudge still seemed powerful, after all, he held both the army and the research division.
But in reality, that wasn't true.
First, the Auror Office.
As a politician who'd entered public service straight out of Hogwarts, Fudge had little real prestige among the Aurors.
Compared to the sly, awkward Fudge, they far preferred to follow their current Head of Office, Rufus Scrimgeour.
The only reason the Auror Office was still "under" Fudge was that Scrimgeour still nominally obeyed his orders.
But that didn't mean Scrimgeour took commands blindly, if the order was unreasonable or illegal, he would reject it outright. He wasn't afraid of Fudge at all.
As for the Department of Mysteries, that was an even bigger headache.
As a research institution, it required enormous funding, whether for ongoing experiments or maintaining those dangerous magical objects.
Even with Unspeakables guarding them, the artifacts inside occasionally went haywire, causing massive losses.
So for Fudge, the Department of Mysteries was nothing but a money-sink and a ticking time bomb, baggage that Old Barty's side had happily dumped on him.
Worst of all, Fudge's public approval had plummeted to rock bottom.
It was clear that, unless a miracle happened, he would lose his post in the next election.
"…That's basically the situation," Krell concluded with a broad smile, closing his notes.
As for trivial matters, like Sirius Black coming to seek an audience with Link, being refused, going berserk, and finally getting driven off by Hunters, he didn't think those were worth mentioning.
"Uncle Krell, you all did very well. Of course, Old Barty did a fine job too. Increase his funding allocation by another thirty percent," Link said casually from the bath, leaning comfortably against the pool wall without even opening his eyes.
Krell was stunned for a moment, then muttered in mild protest, but in the end, he obeyed and left the bathhouse.
Only after he'd gone far did Link finally open his eyes, smiling in satisfaction.
He was very pleased with Old Barty's results.
And by "results," he didn't mean Barty's victory over Fudge, that had long been within Link's expectations. After all the work and planning he'd done, it would've been strange if Barty hadn't won.
What truly pleased him was that Barty and the others had shown restraint even after winning.
Fudge would probably never know that Barty had already possessed the power to overthrow him directly.
But he hadn't done so, because Link had told him to hold back.
Now that they held power, they still needed to handle many future matters against Voldemort and for the benefit of the Flamel Family, things that could never be made public.
In such times, keeping Fudge in place as the nominal Minister was extremely useful.
As the public figurehead and supposed leader, Fudge could be pushed forward at the right time to take all the blame and consequences.
That was how to maximize profit.
Thinking that, Link's smile grew even brighter.
Splash!
As the water rippled, Emily slid gracefully into the pool, gliding along the edge until she reached his side.
She brushed back the damp bangs on his forehead and said softly, "What are you thinking about, so deeply?"
Link didn't answer, his gaze was fixed on Emily's body, half-hidden in the heavy steam, his eyes faintly glowing blue, his breathing gradually quickening.
"Never mind, I don't want to know anyway," Emily said, tying up her hair and leaning against his chest with a smile. "Whatever it is, it's probably not that important. I think what really matters now… is finishing what we didn't before. Don't you think so?"
"You're absolutely right," Link murmured, his body naturally pressing down toward her.
"Mmm..."
That night...
At the moment when the rumbling thunder broke apart into crackling bolts, the world trembled with it. Lightning still crashed, clouds split open, and golden arrows of light shot down from the thick, dark sky. Thunder boomed, the clouds burned, spewing terrifying blue flames, the heavens shuddered, and even the earth trembled in fear…
And in that moment, the only thing alive in the courtyard was a patch of roses, blooming delicately among green leaves, fragrant blossoms, the sole symbol of life's passion in the rain.
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