Rafal slumped to the ground, defeated.
Knowing his failure was inevitable, he began the classic villain ritual—the monologue.
Basil swore he could hear the sad background music from Case Closed whenever the murderer confesses their tragic backstory—Woo-oo-ooo...
"Your brother was learned, your brother was kind, your brother was merciful."
"Your brother was handsome!" Rafal roared. "Even though we had the exact same face!"
"I was tired of it! Tired of all the glory belonging to him!"
"Tired of being a so-called professor, teaching ridiculous little brats!"
"Every day I woke up, it felt like I had to kill myself all over again! Just to put on the mask of the Dean of Evil!"
"If it were just a hundred years, I could have endured it. Pretended until death. For the sake of my so-called brotherhood with Rhian."
"But it was too long! The so-called Balance of Good and Evil gave us a lifespan with no end in sight."
"I couldn't keep pretending. I craved slaughter. I wanted power, to become the only one possessing Finger Glow!"
"Not to teach it to others! It is a treasure, belonging only to me, or at most, shared with Rhian!"
Basil hadn't reverted to human form, but his dragon head could still speak with a human voice. "Have you ever considered one thing? Your brother might have been enduring it too. How does a kind wizard tolerate villains being born from his school one after another, going out to bring destruction to the fairytale world?"
"I have to say, even though he was a bit of a pushover, he really was a good brother."
Rafal stood up and spread his arms wide.
"Kill me."
"I don't wish to die of old age."
"To die at the hands of a great king who embodies both Good and Evil... it is my honor."
The dragon's jaws opened. "As you wish."
Breathing fire was now instinct for Basil.
Just like flying, it required no more conscious control than flexing a finger.
Colorless dragon fire, combining the hues of Good and Evil, poured from between his fangs, nose, and mouth.
It fell upon Rafal.
Then it turned red, just like in his vision of the future.
He didn't struggle.
The twitching of his limbs was merely a reaction to the pain of being burned.
"You will understand sooner or later. You won't be a Hero forever, Arthur!"
Leaving these final words, Rafal turned into ash.
Basil reverted to his human form.
"No, I will never understand."
Killing family... that was something he could never comprehend.
The reason he dared to transmigrate was that he held an absurd hope in his heart—to return to his original world.
To go home.
The world where his child lived, where his parents' graves lay.
Every brick and stone of the courtyard house formed his soul, engraved with his memories.
Within the original [Source of Negative Emotion], aside from lust, the emotion classified as "negative" most often was longing.
The Storian began writing again, its narration echoing once more.
"The old avatar of Evil has passed. The new Lord of Good and Evil has stepped into his tower. He shall become the master of this sacred institution, and my master."
The blue quill flew in front of Basil.
He grasped it.
His Exotic Magic, which had dropped to single digits due to the transformation, began to recover rapidly.
The School for Good returned to birdsong and fragrant flowers; the School for Evil was once again shrouded in dark clouds.
The shattered dome returned to its original position, sealing itself shut.
The scorched pages turned white again.
Everything was restored.
At that moment, the doors burst open.
Led by Dovey and Lesso, the teachers and students rushed in.
Relying on her stamina, Beatrice pushed through the crowd and threw herself into Basil's arms.
Dovey walked up to him and said respectfully, "Greetings, School Master."
Lesso looked at the wall, giving a soft hmph of acknowledgment.
"Hello, School Master!" Tedros waved his arms excitedly.
Haha! The School Master is my dad!
The other students joined in the shouting.
For a moment, it felt like the tower's ceiling was going to collapse from the noise.
——
Public Chat:
Madison: "So, you became the principal of a magic school? And immortal?"
Sophie: "You forgot to add, he also owns a book that predicts the future—the Storian."
Basil: "It's all true. But the so-called prophecy cannot touch the System that connects us."
Basil: "Every word we speak, every meeting in the club space, is a variable."
Madison: "So, you're really immortal?"
Sophie: "Yeah, yeah. In that case, I should consider staying as a teacher. Once I become a professor, I'll be immortal too."
Basil: "Did you forget the Sorcerer's Stone?"
Basil: "Brewing the Elixir of Life is actually very simple."
Basil: "One ounce of Dragon Blood, shavings of Fluxweed, mixed with your own hair. Then place the Sorcerer's Stone in the mixture for an hour."
Basil: "An Elixir of Life that extends life by one year is born."
Basil: "And the recipe isn't fixed. Any magical creature with strong vitality will do. The auxiliary ingredient doesn't have to be Fluxweed either. Its main purpose is to clear the bestiality from the blood. It's only effective for Dragon Blood. Powerful magical creatures have their will in their blood."
Madison: "What about unicorn blood?"
She thought of the unicorn she summoned. She could make it voluntarily offer its blood.
Basil: "That works. Replace with unicorn blood, roughly 2.5 ounces. The auxiliary material needs to be changed to mercury, one-tenth the volume of the blood."
Sophie: "Didn't you say before that only Nicolas Flamel successfully created the Sorcerer's Stone?"
Sophie: "How do you know the recipe for the Elixir of Life?"
Basil: "It's in Dumbledore's office. And it's not precious. Without the Stone, the parchment with the recipe is just a scrap of paper."
Madison: "Are you close with Dumbledore? He's the greatest white wizard, he—"
She was a bit excited. Dumbledore was somewhat of an idol to her.
Having been leeched off by her parents since childhood, she longed for a benevolent guardian to protect her.
Well, actually, she mainly just wanted to go to Hogwarts. Her admiration for Dumbledore was just projected feelings for the school.
Being looked after by Dumbledore wasn't necessarily a good thing, though.
Basil: "I inexplicably look very similar to Grindelwald in his youth. Of course, I'm the more handsome version."
Basil: "But the bad news is... I'm the more handsome version."
Madison: "That dirty old man!"
Sophie: "?"
She couldn't quite follow their conversation. Why did Madison change her tune so fast?
Madison: "Dumbledore is gay. Grindelwald was his lover."
Sophie: "That dirty old man!"
The conversation ended there. Because immediately after, Madison and Sophie used "sensing a crisis" as an excuse to invite Basil online.
They had a hearty, face-to-face "battle."
Let's just say [Red Dragon Bloodline] was very useful.
Even in astral form.
The remaining 22 days passed quickly.
In these days, School Master Basil established many new school rules.
Classes were mandatory every day, each lasting at least an hour and a half.
Morning assembly at 9 AM daily to preach the guiding ideology centered on him.
Nap time at 12:30 PM; reciting the newly written School Master's Quotations before sleeping.
A new "Moral Character" class was added, with Basil serving as the teacher.
Class time: at night, in dreams.
Finger Glow was too convenient. In the hands of Basil, whose quality and magnitude of magic were sky-high, mastering a spell from beginner to expert took only a thought.
With just a thought, he fully mastered Dreamwalking and bent it to his will.
Back to the Moral Character class. Those attending were all the truly beautiful princesses and female villains.
Oh, and Professor Lesso, who had changed her style, ditched the frizzy hair, and looked stunningly glamorous.
It's worth mentioning that now that Good and Evil were truly balanced, Professor Lesso had regained her youthful figure.
In dreams, Basil tirelessly provided one-on-one, hands-on guidance.
Demonstrating how a serious, strict, and competent teacher practiced what he preached.
Of course, this included Beatrice.
Actually, as the School Master, he could have lost his purity.
But to avoid provoking Sophie's jealousy, he kept it in dreams.
Even with Beatrice.
Also because a "Pure Yang Body" was a positive buff in cultivation and mysticism.
For future development, he could only vent his urge to "educate" in dreams.
Not in reality.
As for the Club, Sophie and Madison redeemed two more Legendary cards. Basil did the same.
Sophie drew the Imperius Curse and the Cruciatus Curse, completing the set of three Unforgivable Curses.
She was speeding down the path of an Azkaban Valedictorian with no return.
Madison stuck to summons.
She added an Australian Opaleye dragon and Piertotum Locomotor (Stone Knights).
And Basil.
He drew two Killing Curse cards.
Unlike in the game, his Killing Curse card didn't level up directly.
Instead, the Trait leveled up.
[Trait: Shadow of Death (Gold)]
[Number of Shadows: 4]
[Your killing intent is incredibly pure, and your superior leadership makes even the dead bow to you. When you cast the Killing Curse, shadows of the dead will gather behind you, releasing a Killing Curse with standard damage.]
[Note: 10 player-unit lives can form one Shadow. Shadow limit is 64. Shadows' Killing Curses are ineffective against you.]
The trait became Gold. The limit increased from 4 to 64.
Sigh, he had to go kill ants again. And spiders.
The only pity was that he drew the two Gold cards the night before returning to Hogwarts.
Otherwise, he wanted to try killing a few Wishing Fish to see what fraction of a player unit one fish counted as.
Don't misunderstand; it wasn't revenge. Just the caution and dedication of a magic researcher.
Finally.
With a sound: [System Component retrieval complete.]
[Detected Club: 'Witch Club'. Update?_]
"Update."
Only one second passed.
[Update complete] sounded the mechanical voice.
Opening the Club. The decor of the club space remained unchanged. But there was a new function to switch Academy styles.
In other words, he could change the Ravenclaw-style club space into the style of the other three Houses.
The Club Public Chat, aka the chat interface, was also optimized.
No matter how Basil looked at it, it felt a bit like a Discord or WhatsApp group.
A group settings icon appeared in the top right corner.
Whoa, it really became a group chat?
Clicking it, the group name was [Witch Club]. It also had a Lv1 tag. Once official members reached 5, it could upgrade to Lv2. And unlock the Otherworld Travel function.
Below were the group members. Just three lonely avatars: Basil, Sophie, and Madison.
Below that were Group Apps.
[Files]: Upload videos, photos, documents. The group chat evaluates the value of the uploaded file and awards corresponding Points (formerly Club Badges). The uploader can set the download price (not exceeding the group's valuation) and download conditions, receiving the points.
[Group Space]: The original Club Space. Click to enter. Can choose physical or astral entry.
[History]: View chat history.
[Check-in]: Another source of Club Badges. Checking in grants 1 to 10 badges.
[Group Activity]: The original Club Activity.
[Store]: The Club Store. Now with a listing function. But currently only supports listing physical goods. Copying talents to sell is impossible. It also sold Group QR Codes.
A QR code cost 700 badges. One-time use. Only usable by female sapient lifeforms.
After use, if the Group Owner (Basil) doesn't object, the user joins the group chat.
Becoming a Secondary Member.
Secondary Members cannot use [History] or fully access the [Store].
They can only buy Epic Cards, Gold Coins, Fog Cards, Baruffio's Brain Elixir (Medium), Weasley Wildfire Whiz-bangs Blind Boxes, etc.
After accumulating 1000 Club Badges, they can apply for an upgrade in their personal interface. Upon spending 1000 badges and getting approval from the Group Owner, they become an Official Member.
Below the Group Apps was a big + sign.
Clicking it allowed inviting new members. One invitation every 3 months. The Group Owner decides whether to approve.
After seeing all this, Basil immediately uploaded American Horror Story: Murder House, Coven, Hotel, and Apocalypse (Price: 0; Downloadable only by Madison), and The School for Good and Evil (Price: 0; Downloadable only by Sophie), earning 400 points.
Then, by listing supplies stored in the [World Case], he earned another 112 points.
Finally, he uploaded some magical knowledge to reach 700 points.
He redeemed a [One-time Group QR Code].
And sent an invite to Beatrice beside him.
At the same time, seeing the new store items and files.
Madison also uploaded the Harry Potter complete collection. Total 700 points.
She instantly redeemed a [One-time Group QR Code].
Sophie, unsure what to upload, was surprised.
As Vice President (now Group Admin), she could see member redemption records.
"Why did you redeem a [One-time Group QR Code]?"
Madison: "I'm keeping it as a backup. For Zoe, or that Supreme Witch who can reverse time."
At the same time, she sent a private message to Basil: "Sweetie, I just watched the first episode of Coven that you uploaded. Zoe still has her purity right now."
"But her talent is really weird. She's basically a Black Widow. Any male who has sex with her bleeds from every orifice and dies."
"Her boyfriend Charlie died of a brain aneurysm while taking her virginity."
"I assume that little trick won't work on you, right, sweetie?"
Basil: "You planning to pull Zoe into the group?"
Madison: "Not planning, I already found her. Her family has always been in contact with the Coven."
"Finding Zoe Benson among them was effortless."
"Just a reminder, she doesn't have a boyfriend yet."
"I showed her your picture. she's very interested."
Next chapter returns to the Harry Potter world.