Looking at the mysterious statue that had flown into his hand, and then at the System notification before him, Theodore's pupils contracted slightly.
"This statue..."
"It feels similar to the one I saw on Marcus Flint before. Is it connected to an Old One?"
"Is it the Old One from whom the Dumbledore family's ancestor stole blood?"
"Is this what the System means by obtaining the opportunity for the Off-the-Ground Flame Flag?"
He frowned, still unsure exactly how this opportunity would manifest.
At that moment, Dumbledore and Aberforth were also startled by the statue that had flown into Theodore's hand.
"What is that?"
Dumbledore looked puzzled.
Aberforth was equally confused. After a long while, he said uncertainly,
"I don't know either. It should be something left behind by Father and Mother in the chest representing the family inheritance."
"Merlin above, ever since that incident, I haven't looked at that chest again. I thought I threw it away during some cleaning years ago. I didn't expect it to still be here."
"As for what this thing is... let me search. I remember our ancestors seemed to have left behind a mural or something."
Aberforth rummaged through an old wooden box and eventually pulled out a stone slab carved with images.
On the slab was a small figure holding a mysterious statue, standing before a massive, blurry existence.
Drops that looked like blood fell from the vague figure.
Unfortunately, after so many years, the marks on the stone slab had become badly blurred. Only that much could still be seen.
Aberforth suddenly came to a realization.
"So our ancestor once fought some dangerous magical creature. This statue is like an amulet, or something that can restrain that creature?"
"But I've never heard any similar legend. It probably wasn't some grand heroic tale."
"After all these years, this statue should only have commemorative value left. It probably isn't worth much."
Dumbledore was still not reassured. He carefully used several detection spells on the statue, but all the results showed that it was only an ordinary object.
Only then did he relax slightly and accept Aberforth's explanation.
"Even so, for members of the Dumbledore family, an ancestral item still has sentimental value."
Then he looked at Theodore.
"Theodore, although the bloodline magic may have been affected somehow, and we still cannot determine which branch of the Dumbledore family you belong to..."
"At least we can confirm that you do carry Dumbledore blood."
"Since the ancestral statue chose you, you should keep it."
Theodore nodded, but a strange light flashed in his eyes.
Perhaps because the light was dim, and because Dumbledore had not thought too deeply about it, he had not noticed the oddity on the stone slab.
But Theodore saw it at a glance.
The worn marks on the slab were not natural erosion.
They had been deliberately erased.
It seemed some existence did not want certain information to remain in the world, so it had destroyed those parts.
That might be enough to fool ordinary people, but it could not fool Theodore.
His Insightful Heavenly Eye could capture even the faintest traces. With one sweep over the stone slab, he immediately restored the destroyed content through those remnants.
What he saw made his gaze toward the statue turn solemn.
According to the stone slab, this statue was not a commemorative item.
Nor was it an amulet.
On the contrary, it was a key.
A key leading to the kingdom of an Old One.
Back then, the Dumbledore family's ancestor had used this key to steal blood from that Old One, granting his descendants blood capable of using magic.
But stealing magic was an act destined to invite reckoning.
Either the entire family line would eventually become dependents of the Old One, degenerating into mad abominations...
Or they had to find a way to make the Old One fall into eternal slumber.
Or even kill it.
The Dumbledore ancestor could not do that.
He could only sacrifice himself to prolong the Old One's slumber as much as possible.
And it was not just him. Almost all the first wizards who stole the blood of the Old Ones had made the same choice.
They left hope to their descendants.
In their eyes, as time passed and wizards studied magic more deeply, they might one day surpass the Old Ones on the foundation of the stolen power.
Killing an Old One was not impossible.
That was why the Dumbledore ancestor left behind this statue, which led to the Old One's kingdom. He was waiting for a future Dumbledore descendant with blood nearly as concentrated as his own to appear and end that Old One for good.
If that happened, the Dumbledore family would completely break free from the Old One's shadow and truly control the authority they had stolen.
The other families were likely the same.
Their ancestors burned themselves as torches, leaving flames behind, waiting for the day those sparks would become a wildfire.
Unfortunately, they could never have imagined that the development of magic would not rise in a straight line, but in spirals.
There had even been long periods where magic had regressed.
Many ancient spells had been lost by the modern era.
For most wizards, their exploration of magic ended the moment they graduated. After that, magic's greatest use was helping them save effort in daily chores.
The Dumbledore ancestor had imagined all wizards sharing knowledge, improving together, and developing magic to a level beyond his imagination in order to kill the Old Ones.
That scene had never appeared.
In all these years, Theodore was actually the first wizard to trigger this statue.
Thinking of this, Theodore felt both emotional and wary.
Perhaps, in the beginning, wizards really had worked hard to kill the Old Ones after stealing their blood.
The Sacred Twenty-Eight had once formed an alliance, and there had been a sacred pact between them.
But as the ages passed, that once-clear goal was gradually buried by history.
The Sacred Twenty-Eight, who should have stood side by side, were gradually divided.
Infighting became endless. History had seen many disasters and wars that swept across the wizarding world.
Could the will of the Old Ones have been manipulating all this from the shadows?
Just like the truth on this Dumbledore stone slab had gradually been worn away.
Just like Albus Dumbledore, who had once possessed the greatest hope of reaching the level his ancestors had expected, had been left with a permanent wound in his heart. For a century, he had never truly healed it, and so had never taken that final step beyond the limits of wizardry.
If Theodore allowed himself to think darkly, he had one guess.
While wizards had tried to kill the Old Ones, the lofty Old Ones, after suffering the theft of their bloodlines, had also been strangling the already faint hope of wizardkind.
The war between wizards and the Old Ones might never have ended.
It had merely been buried beneath the dust of history.
Theodore looked at the statue that could lead into the Old One's kingdom, his expression growing even more solemn.
Holding this statue might mean accepting the karma between the Dumbledore family and that Old One.
An Old One's true body was absolutely not something the current Theodore could resist.
Even if he used the Cosmic Star Banner, he would probably be crushed to dust.
Before his eyes, the System screen also showed trembling chaotic words, as if warning him.
[Alongside the opportunity related to the Off-the-Ground Flame Flag, you have also discovered hidden information left by the ancestors of humanity.]
[Suiren took fire. Youchao built shelter... All such acts gained great merit.]
[Even if this was not enough to attain sainthood, reaching the peak of quasi-sagehood, close to the realm of saints, would not have been impossible.]
[Yet Suiren, Youchao, and the other human ancestors abandoned the chance to pursue the Heavenly Dao. They placed all their hopes on humanity itself, hoping for the rise of the Human Dao.]
[The ancestors left a message for later generations: humanity must strengthen itself. Human destiny should be held by humans, not Heaven, not the immortals and gods above, and not even saints have the right to decide humanity's fate.]
[My fate is mine, not Heaven's!]
[At this moment, you seem to hear the unwilling roar of the Human Dao from history. Like the Earth Dao, the Human Dao is also suppressed by the Heavenly Dao represented by Patriarch Hongjun.]
[Accepting this opportunity may grant you a chance to obtain the Off-the-Ground Flame Flag, but it will also make you shoulder the immense karma of replacing the Heavenly Dao with the Human Dao. Even saints would struggle to bear such karma. Host, proceed with caution.]
A strange light appeared in Theodore's eyes.
Human will triumphs over Heaven?
My fate is mine, not Heaven's?
He seemed to see, through the long river of history, the ancestors of the Sacred Twenty-Eight risking everything to steal blood from the Old Ones.
As the first humans to steal those bloodlines, the magic they obtained must have been unimaginably powerful.
If they had wished, becoming abominations and gaining eternal life would have been easy.
Yet most of them chose to sacrifice themselves and leave hope to future wizards.
Theodore looked at those distant figures with respect.
Then his gaze returned to the statue.
If the kingdom of the Old One behind this statue truly held the opportunity related to the Off-the-Ground Flame Flag, or at least something similar...
Then this Innate Five Direction Flag, a treasure capable of protecting one's path to enlightenment, was worth the risk.
Besides...
"Killing an Old One?"
"We've already made enemies anyway. What does one more karmic debt matter?"
"I accept this opportunity!"
Passionate words appeared on the System screen.
[The spirit of the ancestors burns before you. As later generations who received their grace, how can we retreat?]
[If descendants cannot surpass their predecessors, are they not useless?]
[Heaven?]
[It is not as if I have never defeated Heaven before. What does it matter if I defeat it again?]
After taking a deep breath, Theodore gripped the statue and stored it inside his Origin Sea, suppressing it with the Purple-Gold Crown of Auspicious Clouds, the Avici Hellscape Sword, and the Cosmic Star Banner.
With that, even if the Old One behind it tried to project itself like Dagon had done, it would be instantly destroyed before it could cause trouble.
As for entering that Old One's kingdom, Theodore was not reckless enough to do it now.
There was still time before the ancient powers fully returned and the Old Ones awakened.
If he truly had to face power close to an Old One's true body, his current strength was still far from enough. It would be near certain death.
He still needed to grow stronger.
At the same time, a profound light flickered in Theodore's eyes.
The Heaven-Measuring talent activated.
A moment later, Theodore groaned. The mysterious light in his eyes shattered, and his face instantly paled.
But soon after, unexpected joy appeared on his face.
Just now, he had tried to calculate what methods could increase his chances of entering the Old One's kingdom.
And he had actually found some clues.
The result surprised even Theodore.
"If anything in the wizarding world can give me three extra chances of entering that Old One's kingdom, two of those chances actually fall on Peter Pettigrew?"
After a brief thought, Theodore understood why.
Peter Pettigrew's talents were extremely useful in certain situations.
After all, the System had judged him as Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal.
In the Investiture of the Gods calamity, very few existences could deceive saints. Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal was one of them.
Concealing Aura and Hidden Fate could greatly reduce one's presence.
Deceiving Heaven and Crossing the Sea could use false death, disguise, and other methods to obscure heavenly secrets, causing most divination methods to fail.
As for Betrayal, it was even more powerful. It was currently the only talent Theodore had seen that could take effect against saints and allow one to backstab them.
If he could obtain Deceiving Heaven and Crossing the Sea, as well as Betrayal, then with some planning, he might really be able to enter the Old One's kingdom earlier and seize the opportunity related to the Off-the-Ground Flame Flag.
As for the remaining chance, it fell on Harry.
More precisely, it was related to something Harry had inherited.
"The Deathly Hallow... the Invisibility Cloak."
With that realization, Theodore bid farewell to Dumbledore and Aberforth and returned to Hogwarts Castle.
Although he was not yet ready to enter the Old One's kingdom, preparation was never wrong.
The sooner he gained confidence in acquiring the Off-the-Ground Flame Flag, even if it was only an inferior magical-world equivalent, the sooner he would gain another heaven-defying trump card.
Before the ancient powers returned, every step ahead mattered.
Soon, Theodore returned to the dormitory.
He remembered that during the Christmas holidays, Dumbledore had returned the Invisibility Cloak to Harry as a gift, just like in the original story.
But the moment he entered the dormitory, he saw Harry looking frantic.
The entire dormitory had been turned upside down, as if he were searching for something.
Theodore froze.
"Harry, what happened?"
"Did something go missing?"
Harry nodded anxiously.
"The Invisibility Cloak I got for Christmas is gone!"
"I clearly put it in my trunk. I wanted to wear it for a night walk after the holidays, but when I opened the trunk tonight, it was gone."
"I searched the entire dormitory, but I couldn't find it anywhere."
Harry's lips moved.
"I think... someone stole it."
As soon as he said that, the atmosphere in the dormitory turned awkward.
Suspicious glances seemed to sweep through the room.
Someone's face flushed red, as if eager to prove his innocence.
Theodore raised an eyebrow and interrupted Harry.
"Harry, I understand that you're anxious."
"But trust your roommates. If the cloak really was stolen, it wasn't taken by anyone in this dormitory."
Harry also realized that his words had caused a misunderstanding and quickly stomped his foot.
"Of course I didn't mean anyone from our dormitory. I meant... the bad guy in the castle."
As soon as Harry said that, Neville and Ron's expressions changed.
"Harry, you mean...?"
Harry nodded hard, counting on his fingers.
"Why would someone steal an Invisibility Cloak?"
"Ron said my cloak is extraordinary. That means it might allow someone to enter places they normally couldn't."
"For us, it lets us sneak around the castle without anyone knowing. But in the hands of someone bad, it could help them achieve something hidden."
"For example..."
Harry did not finish, but Ron and Neville, who had participated in the trial game, immediately understood.
The person plotting against the Philosopher's Stone might be trying to use the Invisibility Cloak to bypass Fluffy and the later obstacles.
Given how precious Harry's cloak was, it might actually work.
Now they were nervous too.
"This is bad. If the bad guy wears the cloak, we won't even know where he is."
"That's a permanent Invisibility Cloak. How are we supposed to find it?"
Theodore raised an eyebrow, made a quick calculation, and suddenly looked surprised.
Harry's intuition was frighteningly accurate.
According to Heaven-Measuring, the cloak really had been stolen by Voldemort and Quirrell.
Their goal was exactly to use the cloak, which was far stronger than a Disillusionment Charm, to bypass Fluffy and the other obstacles so they could obtain the Philosopher's Stone.
"You guessed right. The cloak was stolen by someone with bad intentions."
The moment Theodore said this, Harry and the others immediately wanted to rush out.
"Theodore, we have to protect the Philosopher's Stone!"
Theodore waved his hand, a strange smile appearing on his face.
"Relax. That person has only just stolen the cloak and hasn't had time to act yet. There's no need to panic."
"Besides, it's just an Invisibility Cloak. Breaking it is very easy."
"You don't really think the obstacle course I arranged can be bypassed so easily, do you?"
Then Theodore left the dormitory and went to the trial chamber.
At this time, Fluffy had taken many pills and received a great deal of spiritual energy from Theodore. Its signs of atavism were becoming increasingly obvious.
It had originally had only three heads, but now it had grown five, and its aura had become much more powerful.
When it heard movement at the door, Fluffy became excited and imposing.
But when it saw Theodore, it instantly lay down and wagged its tail.
It could not help it. Even now that it had become a five-headed dog, Theodore's terror was deeply carved into its bones.
Moreover, the moment Theodore entered, Fluffy smelled an intense pressure, as if it were facing something incomprehensible.
This little monster wizard had grown stronger again!
What kind of freak was this? Every time they met, his strength seemed to transform.
At this point, even Dumbledore might be beaten if he faced this little monster.
Seeing Fluffy's ingratiating expression, Theodore flicked his finger and sent a stream of spiritual energy into its body, making it let out a comfortable bark.
"Fluffy, some idiot may try to sneak in during the next few days. Guard the door properly and entertain him well."
"If you do a good job, I'll give you another pill later."
Fluffy immediately bared its teeth.
Aside from being terrified of Theodore, it was not afraid of other wizards at all.
It could not beat Theodore, but surely it could beat them?
It could beat people up and get a pill afterward. What a wonderful deal.
Then Theodore raised his hand. Piles of leftover ore from the Cosmic Star Banner's refinement appeared. He formed hand seals and refined them with the Phoenix-Perching Parasol Flame.
A moment later, an object resembling a sinan compass was refined and embedded into one of Fluffy's heads.
Fluffy looked curious, as if it had received a new toy, and kept trying to poke at it.
Theodore smiled strangely.
He had used the Heavenly Demon Artifact Refining Art to inscribe several invisibility-detecting restrictions onto the compass.
Although its grade was not high, it still counted as a low-grade magical artifact.
During the ancient Lich War in the Primordial World, this artifact had been specifically used to break invisibility spells.
It could do nothing against high-grade techniques, much less concealment abilities that hid karma and fate, but low-level invisibility methods were completely exposed before it.
Against the wizarding world's Invisibility Cloak, even if it was the Deathly Hallow cloak, this was enough.
Theodore said to Fluffy,
"Whenever you see the compass needle move, pounce wherever it points. That's all. Understand?"
Fluffy grinned, and all five heads nodded together.
That was it?
It was very smart!
Wherever it shakes, pounce there. Simple!
At that moment, Theodore seemed to think of something else and curled his lips.
"Wait. Don't pounce right away."
"Act first. You know how to act, right?"
...
At the same time, in Quirrell's office.
Quirrell's voice was filled with excitement.
"Master!"
"This is simply destiny's blessing!"
"Harry Potter actually received such a powerful Invisibility Cloak? I've seen many alchemical items in my life, and no fewer than dozens of cloaks, but I've never seen one comparable to this!"
On the table before him lay a silvery cloak.
Quirrell looked at it with blazing obsession.
Even the well-informed Voldemort did not deny Quirrell's praise.
"The Potter family actually had such a treasure?"
"This Invisibility Cloak is indeed a rare treasure of the wizarding world."
Voldemort suddenly felt a trace of regret.
If he had obtained this cloak back then, perhaps he could have made it into one of his Horcruxes.
A treasure of this quality had that qualification.
But now, it could still serve him.
A cloak of this caliber was enough to deceive most beings in the wizarding world.
If he layered a Disillusionment Charm on top of it, it would be foolproof.
No matter how vicious that three-headed dog was, they could bypass it this way!
As expected, fate still favored him, Voldemort. Just when he was at his wits' end, it had delivered this Invisibility Cloak to him.
Who else in the wizarding world could stop him from obtaining the Philosopher's Stone?
Voldemort sighed with heroic emotion.
"I have lain dormant for so long. Tonight, I rise again!"
"Quirrell, tonight, I will take back everything I lost!"
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