Late at night.
Suitcase World, study.
The warm orange flame flickered atop the candlestick, bathing the entire study in a soft glow.
Lucien sat at the desk, flipping through books with one hand as he studied curses, while his other hand took notes, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
The quill scratched across the parchment, leaving behind rows of neat handwriting.
Curses came in countless forms, and the corresponding methods of breaking them were just as varied. Studying them in detail was enough to give anyone a headache.
Some curses required specific counter-curses, some required rare materials, some had to be undone by the original caster, and others were simply impossible to remove, only slowly worn away over time...
Lucien rubbed his brow and turned another page.
Fortunately, life had been very peaceful lately.
There were no Dark Wizards, no monsters, no conspiracies, and Hogwarts was truly safe.
Students attended classes as usual and played Quidditch as usual. There had been no major disturbances or incidents.
That allowed Lucien to study in peace and focus on his own affairs.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but sigh.
This was what normal school life was supposed to be like.
Attending classes, reading books, practising magic, studying curses...
How pleasant.
[Ding! Loan triggered: Plague Doctor's Mask (Monthly Loan)]
[Loan Name: Plague Doctor's Mask]
[Loan Duration: 30 days]
[Loan Content: Obtain the Plague Doctor's bird-beaked mask. While wearing it, your observation and analytical abilities regarding curses, diseases, and injuries will be enhanced.]
[Loan Task: Improve three types of curse-related potions.]
[PS: The mask is part of the "Plague Doctor" set.]
Lucien's quill paused.
He had long since grown accustomed to the system's sudden "raids." He temporarily set down his pen and skilfully looked through the loan information.
Plague Doctor?
Hmm.
A more vivid name would probably be bird-beak doctor.
In the Muggle world, this image roughly originated in medieval Europe.
At that time, the Black Death was rampant. Everyone lived in fear, never knowing whether tomorrow or death would come first.
To reduce the risk of becoming infected while treating patients, doctors wore wax-coated robes, black hats, and bird-beaked masks that could filter the air. Their eyes were protected by transparent glass, and they used wooden sticks to examine patients without touching them directly...
That attire became a symbol of both hope and fear.
It represented the hope of survival, but also the approach of death.
The effect of the mask alone was decent enough. It would certainly be useful for his research into curses and for treating them.
However, Lucien was more curious about the complete set.
As everyone knew, the effects of a complete set were always better than those of a single piece of equipment.
As for the loan task, it required him to improve potions, specifically curse-related potions.
Lucien pulled out the potion books and recipes he had exchanged with Snape some time ago from the pile of books beside him.
All of them had been specifically chosen because they were related to curses.
He already had ready-made references.
Improving potions wasn't particularly difficult.
Whether it was his own talent in Potions or his current knowledge base, both were more than sufficient.
And if necessary, he could ask Snape for advice at any time.
The youngest Potions Master was right there. It would be a waste not to make use of that.
In fact, as Lucien's knowledge grew and he mastered more magic, he gradually began to feel that only Yearly Loan tasks still offered any real challenge.
Monthly Loans and Weekly Loans, as long as they weren't too outrageous, could generally be completed without much difficulty.
"System, help me apply for the loan."
Unlike the immediate responses of the past, the system didn't reply after Lucien expressed his intention.
The flame atop the candlestick flickered.
Lucien frowned.
Eh?
After more than ten years of use, was the system finally starting to break down?
Just as he was about to ask what was going on, the delayed notification finally sounded.
[Ding! Plague Doctor's Mask (Monthly Loan) successfully applied for.]
[Evaluation: Doctor, what you bring is healing, but also death.]
...
Sometime later.
Suitcase World.
Lucien arrived at the enclosed house where Nagini was being kept.
The large green snake was still hiding in the corner, her vertical pupils fixed warily on him.
"Let's test the effect of the Plague Doctor's Mask."
Lucien connected with the System Space through his consciousness, and the beaked mask appeared out of thin air in front of him.
The black leather had a dull sheen, the beak-like protrusion curved slightly downward, and two smoky crystal lenses were set into the eye sockets.
Before Lucien could even move, the mask automatically fitted itself to the contours of his face. The leather strap fastened silently behind his head, the tension just right, neither too tight nor too loose.
Whoa.
It could even equip itself automatically.
A faint glow rose from the crystal lenses set into the mask's eye sockets, and the world changed before his eyes.
A superimposed pattern appeared over the coiled green snake.
It was a three-dimensional image of the curse.
Purplish-black filaments wrapped around every scale, digging into the skin like tree roots and spreading throughout her body like blood vessels.
Some of the filaments had already penetrated deep into the bones, forming dense nodes around the joints. Others climbed along the spine before finally converging inside the skull.
Lucien tilted his head slightly, and the lenses seemed to adjust along with his movement.
As his gaze shifted, he noticed a small mass of grey mist occupying Nagini's head, occasionally giving off a faint blue glow.
A more direct way of observing the curse?
He could already see all this with the naked eye through the mask.
If he used...
Lucien channelled magic through his thoughts, causing black vortices to spin deep within his pupils.
Through the mask's crystal lenses, the image of the curse became even more three-dimensional.
The purplish-black filaments were no longer flat. They now had depth and layers, allowing Lucien to clearly see the path of every strand and how they were intertwined.
He could even see the curse "flowing."
The curse welling up from the heart spread outward through the blood vessels, condensing into new black filaments beneath the base of each scale. They resembled slowly growing vines, their roots burrowing into every inch of flesh.
________
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