It turns out that most humans are always too optimistic about the future.
Just like how Link always felt he could quickly master Occlumency.
But reality gave him a loud slap in the face. The closed-door training he said would end soon lasted for several months, until one morning, when the snow and ice covering Hogwarts Castle had begun to melt, he finally received a system prompt.
[Occlumency LV1 Acquired!]
Staring at the golden words stuck on his retina, Link had mixed feelings. He felt bad because he had spent too much time on Occlumency.
But actually, Link couldn't really be blamed too much. Because his confidence in quickly learning Occlumency came from his proficiency in meditation.
In his thinking, since he could already enter a meditative state skillfully, learning Occlumency should have been a natural next step.
However, the extended retreat had its benefits. For example, during this time, Link's Sectumsempra spell was upgraded to LV3.
This gave Link a big boost in combat power, because compared to LV2 Sectumsempra, LV3 saw its power and control increase by several times.
Especially in terms of control, after testing, Link even found that he could guide the Sectumsempra spell
to turn in a certain direction.
Although the turning angle wasn't very big yet,
it was still very useful as a surprise attack move. And that wasn't even the best part, what really delighted Link was the side effect of Occlumency.
Moments after the Occlumency notification popped up,
the system also popped up a bunch of "+1 Sensory Charm Experience" prompts. Then came the message that the Sensory Charm had leveled up.
[Sensory Charm LV2 Acquired!]
The corners of Link's mouth slowly curled upward. As he expected, Sensory Charm LV2 still couldn't be activated during battle, after all, with such intense activity, Link simply couldn't bear the mental strain the charm caused to his brain.
But now, with Occlumency's absolute rational state as a buff, it was a different story.
"Hoo~"
As Link let out a deep breath, a cold wave of magic rose from his chest and spread quickly to his brain, freezing all his emotions.
The slightly excited expression on Link's face rapidly turned indifferent, and his bright eyes became hollow and deep. Then, a tint of blue surfaced in his pupils.
'Occlumency + Sensory Charm, activated!'
Boom!
Link felt a roaring burst inside his brain like an engine starting up. In the next moment, the world in front of his eyes changed.
Dust floating in the air, the sound of his heartbeat, the flickering of the candle flame on the nightstand…
Everything became incomparably clear.
Link even noticed a string of almost invisible faint footprints on the floor.
Each footprint was just a few centimeters long,
looking like they belonged to a child, but Link knew they could only belong to the house-elves, who came to the students' dormitories from time to time to offer housekeeping services.
This wasn't good news for the house-elves. Because their principle was to serve the students in the quietest and least noticeable way possible. If they knew they'd been discovered, Link figured they'd cry their hearts out, maybe even self-punish.
Of course, none of that really mattered to Link. What mattered most was, he also saw a faint strange white glow on the wooden door of the dormitory.
This discovery made Link's heartbeat quicken.
All the dormitory doors at Hogwarts were enchanted with protective magic to prevent intruders from sneaking into the rooms.
Of course, such things hadn't happened for hundreds of years. Normally, the main use of the enchantment
was to stop boys from entering the girls' dormitory
and having anything unspeakable happen.
Strangely, girls were allowed to freely enter the boys' dormitory. It was said this was suggested by Godric Gryffindor himself, and Link had long complained about it.
Again, none of that really mattered, what mattered was, Link seemed to be able to see the protective magic on the dormitory door.
Link tentatively reached out toward that patch of white light, and then, he felt some kind of energy gently brushing his fingertips.
This discovery made even his emotionless face (from using Occlumency) reveal a faint smile.
Because being able to sense magical auras meant that many trigger-based magical traps would now be ineffective against Link.
At the same time, he could now try exploring many restricted areas, like some ancient chambers, or the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library.
Link slowly exited the state of Occlumency and Sensory Charm, and his face was now fully covered in a smile.
The combined effect of Sensory Charm and Occlumency
far exceeded his expectations.
Although he hadn't tested it yet, the added boosts of absolute rationality and super perception made Link feel like his combat power was now at least twice as strong as before.
With this kind of power, Link felt even more confident in the plan he was about to execute.
The only problem now was that Quirrell had been way too quiet recently. Over the past few months, he hadn't harassed Link at all as Link had expected, instead, he seemed a little scared to approach Link.
And clearly, he had already started searching for unicorn tracks in the Forbidden Forest during Christmas break, yet Arkham hadn't found any trace of him in months. This left Link with no opportunity to strike.
What Link didn't know was, on the night Quirrell first invited Link to his office, Snape received the news and went straight to Quirrell's office.
No one knew what they did in there, but according to Hogwarts know-it-alls George and Fred, Snape stayed in Quirrell's office for two whole hours, and during that time, they kept hearing Quirrell's broken cries and pleas for mercy.
But for Link, this was also good news.
After all, he wasn't really afraid of Quirrell not appearing in the Forbidden Forest. Because with Quirrell's magic alone, Voldemort wouldn't last long.
For his own survival, he would definitely force Quirrell into the forest to find unicorn blood to sustain him.
Thinking this, Link finally opened the door of the dormitory with a smile on his face.
'Now, it's time to go say hi to everyone.'
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