Chapter 488: Miravia: You Lied To Me!

Another week passed quickly.

During that time, Wade and Miravia made further improvements to the entire castle.

The first issue was concealment. Miravia helped Wade set up Anti-Apparition wards, which meant that inside the castle, only Wade, as its owner, could use Apparition.

Because of the Anti-Apparition wards, the teleportation magic built into the rings also had to be completely redesigned.

Previously, the user needed to Apparate, after which the ring would alter the destination of their Apparition. Now, however, the system had been changed into something more like a Portkey.

All the wearer had to do was activate the switch. No matter where they were, they would instantly be transported back to the garden in front of the moving castle.

The improved method was undeniably more convenient. Even young wizards who had not yet learned Apparition could now use the rings to return to the castle. In a critical situation, that kind of teleportation might even save their lives.

After completing the ring upgrades, Wade sent an update notification through the rings to every current holder.

He then used owls to deliver the new ring modules to each of them.

The upgrade only required some simple disassembly and replacement. Wade had deliberately left room for modular upgrades when designing the Hydra rings, much like upgrading the components of a computer.

“All right… Now it’ll be much harder for outsiders to discover my castle, while our own people can return even more easily.” Wade watched the departing owls with satisfaction.

“Mm…” Miravia replied.

Wade noticed that something sounded off in her voice.

“If something is troubling you, you can tell us. Nagini and I will both help.”

“There is something.” Miravia sat on the sofa, her face filled with hesitation. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but… I still can’t make up my mind.”

Wade narrowed his eyes slightly and suddenly asked, “Is it because of the residue?”

“How did you know?” Miravia asked in surprise.

“At this point, the only thing that could leave you this conflicted is that power…” Wade sighed.

The residue could increase a person’s strength, but it was filled with negative emotions. Even though most of the residue within Miravia had already dissipated, what remained still affected her emotions, constantly tempting her to absorb more.

It was like quitting smoking.

You always wanted just one more.

Miravia said gloomily, “Yes… I’m really conflicted. If I let all the residue dissipate, maybe I won’t be affected by it anymore. But… but…”

“But you don’t want your strength to drop, right?” Wade asked with a smile.

They were both Slytherins. Of course he knew what she was thinking.

There were few things more painful for a Slytherin than watching their strength plummet.

“Yes…” Miravia gritted her teeth, then abruptly stood up. “Help me remove all the remaining residue from my body! I… even if my strength drops, I don’t want to end up like before, trapped in one place for decades!”

Miravia was genuinely afraid that she might lose control again in the future and absorb large amounts of residue.

If that happened, perhaps there would no longer be anyone capable of sealing her inside a crystal coffin.

“All right…”

Wade had originally planned to wait until the Hogyoku had accumulated more before giving Miravia some purified magic.

But that would have required convincing her to give up the power contained in the residue, which he had expected to take quite a bit of persuasion.

He had not expected Miravia to bring it up herself.

“Come on!” Miravia closed her eyes.

Wade pulled over a chair and sat down in front of her.

“I have a way to keep your strength from dropping.”

“Really?” Miravia’s eyes snapped open.

“You remember, don’t you? I once wanted you to help me research how to purify the residue. But you were too busy at the time, so we never got around to it…” Wade said carefully.

Miravia’s eyes lit up.

“You mean… you succeeded?!”

“More or less. The losses during purification are still too great.” Wade looked regretful. “But I extracted a great deal of residue from you before, so I still managed to accumulate quite a lot of pure magic. It should be enough to let you maintain your current strength.”

Hearing that, Miravia immediately hesitated.

The residue had originally been part of the compensation she had given Wade.

And judging from his expression, this purified magic had definitely not been easy to obtain.

The purification process itself could not possibly have been simple either.

How could she accept something so difficult to produce?

If she did, wouldn’t that mean Wade had spent so much effort freeing her and ended up gaining almost nothing from it?

“I can’t take it, Wade,” Miravia said.

Wade spoke sincerely.

“You’ve helped me a great deal. Besides, this power originally came from you.”

“No, no…”

“Listen to me, Miravia. I can continue purifying this kind of magic. It isn’t anything particularly rare. As long as I collect more residue in the future, I can keep producing it,” Wade said.

“I can’t agree, Wade. This magic is more useful to you…” Miravia already felt that she owed Wade far too many favours.

If she owed him even more now, she had no idea when she would ever be able to repay them all.

Wade hesitated before finally saying, “All right… if you insist, then I’ll only help remove the residue.”

Seeing Wade change his mind, Miravia let out a sigh of relief.

Wade then took out his wand and used the same method as before to extract all the remaining residue from Miravia’s body before injecting it into the Hogyoku.

After all the improvements Wade had made, the Hogyoku’s purification ability was already vastly different from before, and there was not much residue left inside Miravia to begin with.

Before long, all of it had been absorbed.

Miravia collapsed onto the sofa, drenched in sweat.

When Wade looked at her again, he could clearly sense that the magical fluctuations around her had weakened considerably.

Miravia noticed it too, and her expression immediately dimmed.

Wade smiled.

His wand instantly tapped the Hogyoku, and in the next moment, an enormous surge of pure magic poured straight back into Miravia’s body.

“Wait! Wade! What are you doing?!” Miravia exclaimed in shock as she felt her weakened magic rapidly rising again.

She tried to struggle, but Wade merely snapped his fingers.

Already weakened and completely unprepared, Miravia was immediately hit by the spell and found herself unable to move at all.

“Don’t struggle, Senior… You can’t beat me in your current state anymore,” Wade said with a smile.

Miravia immediately understood what he was doing.

“You… you lied to me…” she said with difficulty.

Wade shrugged. “Then just consider it a lie.”

The Hogyoku began pouring even more magic into her.

The corner of Wade’s mouth curled upward.

Want to pay back what you owe me?

Impossible.

My favours come with interest.

By the time Miravia could finally move again, she discovered that her strength had not only returned to its previous level, but had even increased slightly.

Wade shook the Hogyoku in his hand and found that two-thirds of the pure magic inside had been used up.

He had not expected the senior to absorb quite so much.

Still, refilling two-thirds of it would take less than a month.

After all, if there was one thing the world did not lack right now, it was negative energy.

Miravia slumped against the sofa.

It was over.

She owed him even more now.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Miravia said gloomily.

“In fact, I’ve already absorbed more than enough myself. All of that was leftover,” Wade replied.

“Leftover? How could that be? This is pure magic, not residue filled with negative emotions…” Miravia did not believe him.

“Actually, whether it’s residue or purified magic, everyone has a limit to how much they can absorb,” Wade explained. “My body is still young, and I’ve already reached the maximum amount of pure magic I can safely absorb. Leaving the rest unused would be a waste, so I might as well give it to you. You don’t need to think you owe me another favour.”

What Wade said was indeed true.

There was a limit to how much pure magic a person could absorb.

After improving the Hogyoku, Wade had already begun absorbing it himself.

But he had quickly noticed that even purified magic still had a critical threshold.

If he absorbed too much, he might eventually repeat Miravia’s mistake.

The essence of the power was still the same.

The greatest difference between pure magic and residue was that the negative emotions within the residue tempted the host into absorbing more without restraint, while pure magic did not.

Purification merely removed those negative emotions from the magic.

So Wade had wisely stopped before reaching the critical limit.

“Is that so…” Miravia carefully sensed the pure magic within her and found that he was indeed telling the truth.

Even so, purified magic was still an extremely valuable resource.

If Wade wanted his future plans to succeed, he would need that power to strengthen his subordinates and even attract more capable people to his side.

And Wade himself had not fully matured yet.

Once his body finished growing, his absorption limit would increase as well, meaning he would still need this power in the future.

So even if Wade claimed that she did not owe him anything, the truth was that she still did.

And it was a very large favour.

Miravia sighed.

“You definitely did this on purpose…”

She had already guessed part of Wade’s intention.

“Yes… I did,” Wade said as he stood up. “I want you to join what I’m building. So I had no choice but to make you owe me just a little more.”

Miravia stared at him in surprise.

“I thought you’d be more subtle about it.”

She had already guessed what Wade wanted, but she had not expected him to say it so directly.

“I’ve already been quite subtle. If I were truly direct, I would’ve told you all this on the first day you arrived,” Wade said with a smile.

“But I only want to live peacefully… To use the time I managed to reclaim, travel around, see the world, and make up for the decades I lost…” Miravia said hesitantly.

“Is that really what you want, Miravia?” Wade stepped closer and looked directly into her eyes. “You were trapped for so long, but it was like a nightmare. Now you’ve woken up, and you’re still young. Are you really willing to let your life become ordinary?”

Miravia fell silent.

But the look she returned Wade with had changed.

There was a different light in her eyes now, and even her breathing had quickened.

“You were never someone who wanted an ordinary life, Miravia. That look in your eyes isn’t the look of someone content to behave and stay out of trouble. You’re yearning for something… You want a life filled with upheaval and grandeur.”

Wade smiled.

“I want the same thing.

“You should understand. People like us were never born to live quietly.

“Come with me.

“Join me, and together, we’ll turn the whole world upside down.”