Chapter 42: Magical Sight

A surge of life force poured into the Ancient Sprout, and in an instant its branches and leaves unfurled, blue veins glowing and fading as if they were breathing.

As the enhancement continued, the blue veins were gradually replaced by silver light. A strange power lifted the plant from the soil, pulling it up by the roots.

Suspended in midair, the sprout slowly shifted from a physical form into one of pure energy.

Transparent roots stretched outward, wrapping themselves around Leonard's body. In the blink of an eye, the symbiosis was complete. The Ancient Sprout clung to Leonard's back, one glowing silver leaf brushing affectionately against his cheek.

Then its form began to fade, growing more and more transparent until it vanished completely from sight. Yet Leonard could still feel it clearly within him—the presence of the Ancient Sprout bound in symbiosis.

It wasn't parasitic. No strange roots were burrowing into his flesh. What he felt was an exchange of magical energy.

With the bond sealed, a powerful, unfamiliar current of magic began coursing through him. It not only refined his own power but also strengthened his body.

An unexpected benefit.

Leonard, who had already set a strict training plan for himself, was pleasantly surprised. Judging by how his body now felt, his physical condition already surpassed what he should have achieved from the first stage of his regimen.

Which meant he could skip ahead directly to phase two.

But that wasn't the real point. What mattered were the fleeting scraps of information that had flashed through his mind the moment the symbiosis was complete.

They seemed to be fragments of some kind of special magic, but they were too broken to make sense of.

"What a pity," Leonard muttered with regret. His instincts told him it was very likely the same ancient, unique magic shown in the enhancement vision.

But incomplete fragments meant there was no way to learn it.

[You used the talent: Optimize Growth. Target maturity increased, producing host-beneficial mutations.]
[Ancient Sprout: A magical plant imbued with ancient magic. Mutation paths: Symbiosis, Magical Sight, Magic Reinforcement, Magic Defense.]
[You gained 100 Experience Points. Current rank: Intermediate Plant Apprentice (291/500)]

The System prompt appeared, laying out the Ancient Sprout's traits and abilities more clearly.

"Seems this plant has quite the origin," Leonard murmured, frowning slightly at the words "ancient magic."

He had never heard of such a thing before—and for someone who had read the entire Harry Potter series and watched all the films, that was strange.

"Something very old… perhaps even on par with the Deathly Hallows," Leonard concluded, then set the idea aside.

After all, the knowledge the Ancient Sprout provided was too fragmented to even piece together a single complete spell. He didn't even get the chance to truly glimpse ancient magic.

Better to focus on what the Ancient Sprout could do for him now that they were bonded.

"Magic Reinforcement and Magic Defense are straightforward enough—the enhancement vision already showed how they work. That just leaves this Magical Sight."

It seemed to be an ability the Ancient Sprout already possessed: sensing spell traces and locating the caster. After enhancement, however, it had apparently evolved into a shared form of Magical Sight.

The question was, what exactly did the enhanced version do?

Leonard reached out to connect with the Ancient Sprout. As soon as he felt a ripple of cheerful emotion, a new kind of perception bloomed in his mind—sight beyond sight.

The vision was made up of shifting blocks of color in different shapes and hues. Matter without magic appeared as a dull gray, while active magic flared in vibrant colors.

The sight wasn't obstructed by walls or distance. Looking around, Leonard could clearly see the enchanted kitchenware in the pub's kitchen, each piece glowing faintly as it cooked food under spellwork.

Wizards, beings saturated with magic, stood out even more vividly in this vision.

Leonard's eyes wandered curiously until they fell on Harry Potter in the next room, fumbling through practice. Harry was working on the Wand-Lighting Charm, and with each wave of his wand, streams of color surged down his arm and burst from the tip—though never quite forming a proper spell.

Leonard glanced around again and quickly spotted something out of place.

From another room on the same floor, an odd color drew his attention. After a moment, he recognized it as Quirrell's quarters.

Quirrell himself appeared as a humanoid patch of magic color, but unlike the bright shades of ordinary wizards, his was faded and ashen.

Next to him drifted a dark ribbon of energy. It wasn't black—it was emptiness, a void.

Watching that shifting strip, Leonard instantly realized it could only be Voldemort.

At that same moment inside Quirrell's room, Voldemort—lost in thought over how to infiltrate Gringotts—suddenly stiffened with unease.

It felt as though something was watching him. The sensation was close, unbearably sharp, like a blade carving through him, dissecting his essence piece by piece.

He lifted himself, crimson tongue flickering, cruel serpent eyes scanning the room.

Everything appeared ordinary. Only the pitiful Quirrell lay curled on the bed, writhing under the torment of his curse.

But where was that gaze coming from? That ancient presence, heavy with history, a stare that should have been buried in the grave long ago.