Hermione's mouth hung open in disbelief. She clearly remembered yesterday’s Transfiguration css—back then, Ivan could barely stabilize a simple transformation spell. And yet today, he had somehow become… this powerful?

  After completing the spell, Ivan didn’t even linger. He left Hermione standing there, still in shock, and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room alone.

  On his way back, book in hand, he ran into Harry and Ron, who were in the middle of a game of wizard chess. The moment they saw him, they looked as if they’d just seen a ghost.

  Ron’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he spotted the book Ivan was holding—An In-Depth Expnation of Fundamental Charms. His right hand trembled, and the knight he had been holding cttered onto the table.

  The poor knight, having fallen from such a height, y on the board in a crumpled heap, his armor shattered. Cursing loudly, he swung his needle-thin sword and sshed at Ron’s left thumbnail.

  “Ow!” Ron flinched, sending the knight flying across the room. He gnced down at his now-split nail, scowled, then angrily grabbed a nearby cup and smashed the unfortunate knight to pieces before tossing everything into the repair box.

  Only after nursing his injured thumb for a moment did he turn to Harry with a worried look.

  “Harry, you don’t think Ivan’s gonna turn into another Hermione, do you?”

  “…That shouldn’t happen, right?” Harry didn’t sound entirely convinced.

  The mere thought of two Hermiones bossing them around made both boys shudder.

  Unaware of the conversation happening in the common room, Ivan had already returned to his dormitory, his mind focused on something far more important—the status updates in his system.

  【Ivan Hals】

  Css: Wizard

  Spells:

  Fear Curse: Level 1 (6,200 EXP)

  Levitation Charm: Level 1 (12,200 EXP)

  Transfiguration Spell: Level 1 (30,200 EXP)

  Disarming Charm: Level 1 (16,200 EXP)

  Lumos: Level 1 (1,200 EXP)

  Knowledge & Theory:

  Magical Item Crafting: Level 0 (435,500 EXP)

  Fundamentals of Charms: Level 0 (88,100 EXP)

  Magical Items:

  Wand (Purpleheart wood, Unicorn Hair core, 11? inches)

  Magic Power: Medium

  Compatibility: 72.5%

  Skill Points: 20

  In just one hour, the "Genius Mode" experience card had worked wonders. Almost all of Ivan’s spells had been elevated to Level 1.

  Since the dorm was empty, he took the opportunity to experiment with his newly improved spells, using a trunk, a stool, and a pillow as test subjects.

  "Wingardium Leviosa!""Expelliarmus!"

  After several minutes of entertaining himself with spellcasting, Ivan surveyed the results. The pillow, having been bsted by the Disarming Charm, now y at the foot of his bed, while the trunk and stool slowly descended from midair.

  This… this was the power of magic!

  Few could resist the allure of such supernatural abilities—especially someone like Ivan, who had spent his past life bedridden, reading fantasy and magic novels as an escape.

  Unfortunately, in the first few days after his transmigration, due to various restrictions, he hadn’t managed to cast even the simplest of spells. But now? Now he had successfully cast multiple spells in a row!

  At this point, he wanted to cast a Transfiguration spell and a Levitation Charm on just about everything he id eyes on.

  After about ten more minutes of non-stop spellcasting, Ivan’s head began to feel heavy—a clear sign of magical exhaustion.

  Through these tests, he had gained a better understanding of his limits.

  For instance, with the Levitation Charm, he could suspend an empty trunk in midair for about forty seconds at a height of one meter. If he tried to levitate his entire bed, it would stay up for only five seconds, and only rise about thirty centimeters.

  As for Transfiguration, he could temporarily change an object’s shape or even its nature, transforming it into something entirely different.

  This spell fascinated him the most.

  If he could master it to McGonagall’s level, he might even be able to turn inanimate objects into living creatures!

  But then, a curious thought crossed his mind—could he use Transfiguration on a person?

  If he were in battle, could he just cast a Transfiguration spell and turn his opponent into a tree? A brick? A pig?

  Or better yet—could he transform the obstacles around an enemy into vicious beasts or deadly traps?

  However, the more he thought about it, the more puzzled he became. Why had no one in the original story done this?

  Even Professor McGonagall, a Transfiguration master, hadn’t used it against enemy wizards in the final battle.

  Could it be that standard Transfiguration didn’t work on living beings? But that didn’t make sense—after all, Transfiguration could turn non-living objects into living creatures. If you could create life, why couldn’t you reverse the process?

  Hagrid had once given Dudley a pig’s tail with magic. Draco Malfoy had even been turned into a ferret!

  So Transfiguration definitely worked on people.

  Then was it a matter of magical resistance? Perhaps wizards naturally had a higher resistance to Transfiguration, and the stronger they were, the harder they were to transform?

  But that brought up another question—what exactly was magical power?

  Why did wizards possess these incredible abilities in the first pce?

  The Animagus transformation came to mind. Even though it was one of the most complex magical skills, it still only allowed a wizard to transform into a specific pre-determined animal. There was no flexibility, no option to choose a different form.

  It seemed more like a pre-programmed transformation—a toggle between two fixed states, rather than freeform shapeshifting.

  "Ugh, why am I even thinking about this now?" Ivan rubbed his forehead. He was just a first-year student, barely able to cast a few basic spells. There was no point overthinking it.

  After testing his Levitation, Transfiguration, Lumos, and Disarming spells, Ivan now had a good grasp of his current skill level.

  He was above average for a first-year, but nothing extraordinary yet.

  With that done, his attention finally shifted to the Fear Curse—his only spell cssified as Dark Magic.

  From the moment he had transmigrated into this world, the spell had been there in his system. But until now, he had never actually used it.

  "Let’s see what it does."

  Raising his wand, he pointed it at Maka, his owl.

  "Fear Descends!"

  A faint purple glow fshed from the tip of his wand, enveloping the bird.

  Maka tilted her head, staring at him with innocent confusion.

  “…It didn’t work?”

  Ivan frowned, puzzled.

  "Fear Descends!" "Fear Descends!"

  He cast it twice more, but Maka just chirped happily and pyfully nipped at the tip of his wand.

  Sighing, Ivan withdrew his wand before it got chewed up. He gnced at his system interface, feeling frustrated.

  The spell was at Level 1—it should work by now.

  Unless…

  Suddenly, a memory surfaced—his encounter with the Sorting Hat.

  Fear.

  Ivan narrowed his eyes.

  His gaze drifted toward the sleeping gray rat on Ron’s desk.

  Unlike Maka, the rat was fast asleep, crumbs of Bertie Bott’s Every Fvor Beans stuck to its whiskers. Its tiny paws twitched as it dreamed.

  Ivan smirked.

  "Let’s try it on you instead."

  <><><><><>

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