"I can understand how you feel," Wade said suddenly as he looked at the grief-stricken Slytherin.
"You understand? You are Muggle-born as well. What could you possibly understand? I do not need your comfort!" Slytherin snapped angrily.
"You misunderstand. I am not trying to comfort you," Wade said with a smile. "The reason I say I can understand your feelings is because I am much like you, only with one difference. You despise Muggles, while I despise pure-bloods. Put yourself in my place. If one day I had a daughter who suddenly told me she wanted to marry some misshapen, pig-brained pure-blood, I would spit blood just like you did."
Slytherin glared at Wade. He had thought this boy was not entirely awful and was trying to console him, but it turned out he was mocking him right to his face.
"Pure-bloods are all elites. How could they be stupid? Even the worst among pure-bloods are far superior to those Muggle-borns. If you want to speak up for Muggle-born students, you should not use such an example," Slytherin said disdainfully.
"I already told you earlier. The reason Muggle-born students in your era appeared foolish was because they never received basic education. At that time, only the nobility had the right to be educated. How could they possibly compare to pure-blood students from established families who had been educated from childhood?"
"But now, times are different. Even Muggle-born students from orphanages can read and write. The advantage of pure-blood students is gone."
In that chaotic age, Muggle-born students often could not even read or write fluently.
After entering Hogwarts and finally grasping their identity as witches and wizards, they still had to learn basic literacy while studying magic at the same time.
Just imagining a group of illiterate children facing subjects like Potions, filled with dense and obscure terminology, made it clear why Muggle-born students of that era seemed so slow.
"Even if what you say makes some sense, at most it proves that they have all returned to the same starting line. How does that make pure-blood wizards stupid?" Slytherin said irritably.
"I think you may have been so provoked that you have lost your head," Wade said with a frown. "Have you forgotten how your direct descendants died out?"
Slytherin froze at those words.
He truly had been overstimulated earlier, his thoughts in disarray. With Wade's reminder, he now understood that it was not impossible for modern pure-blood wizards to become less intelligent.
Because of inbreeding. All those measures taken between pure-bloods to preserve the purity of their bloodlines had left most of their descendants burdened with various defects.
Perhaps stupidity was the luckiest of those defects.
"If you ever have the chance to return to Hogwarts and take a look, you should observe the students carefully and see how they differ from those of the past. Admittedly, education today may be more comfortable than before, but the quality of the students is vastly different from what it once was," Wade said.
Hearing this, Slytherin was tempted to return to Hogwarts and see for himself, but… would this boy really let him go?
After all, he had potentially learned this boy's "secret."
Even though such a secret would have been utterly insignificant in his own era.
"Would you let me leave?" Slytherin suddenly asked.
"If you cooperate properly, answer my questions, and agree to keep my secret, why would I not let you go? After all… you are the ancestor of one of my good friends, even if that friend might not like you very much," Wade said, his gaze flickering.
"Ha. You are not an honest one," Slytherin sneered. "You plan to take what you want from me first, and then kill me afterward, do you not?"
"You are overly suspicious," Wade replied calmly.
"If I lacked even this much discernment, how could I have achieved what I did in that era?" Slytherin chuckled. "You truly are a perfect fit for my House. Meticulously self-interested, crafty, and cunning. If this were my lifetime, I would have given you the finest resources and nurtured you properly. But now… boy, how about making a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" Wade Reynolds asked with interest.
"I know what you are researching. I also know what you want to understand.."
Slytherin said, glancing at the diagram of magical traces left by the basilisk's eye on the nearby table.
"I suddenly wish to see this world a little longer. I do not want to disappear just yet. So long as you allow me to continue existing in this world, I will tell you everything you want to know. Moreover, if you need advice for your experiments, I will offer it as well. You should know that as one of the four founders, even without my former power, the knowledge and experience I possess have never disappeared. Would you really refuse to have a founder as your personal professor?"
"It does sound tempting. But… I refuse," Wade said calmly.
"What?"
Slytherin frowned. "You are actually refusing? Can you tell me why? Are you truly going to kill me outright just for the sake of some worthless so-called secret?"
"This has nothing to do with that secret anymore, Mr. Slytherin," Wade said with a smile. "My instincts tell me you are digging a pit for me. The safest course of action is simply to refuse any deal you propose. As the saying goes, the words of ghosts cannot be trusted, and you… can now be considered one yourself."
Slytherin stared at Wade in surprise. "It seems I underestimated you…"
"So there really is a trap," Wade said with equal reflection.
"As expected of someone who possesses the power of the ancient Sage," Slytherin sighed. "Very well. Then let us continue our previous arrangement. I have finished asking my questions. Now it is your turn."
"What is the power of the ancient Sage? What exactly is an ancient Sage? And where does this power come from?" Wade Reynolds asked bluntly.
"In this world, since ancient times, every few decades… or perhaps every few centuries, a wizard with a special kind of magic will appear."
"Relying on this special magic, such wizards are often far stronger than others. And with their formidable strength, they eventually all become powerful wizards of immense learning. In those days, many wizards without family inheritances would seek them out to ask for magical knowledge. And they would always grant such requests, responding to all who asked, with a selflessness that moved people deeply."
"Thus, people of that era referred to such learned wizards, whose legacies spanned generations, as ancient Sages. The magic they wielded was called ancient magic."
"As for how they came to be, where this power originated, or what purpose it served in the world, I do not know…" Slytherin continued. "It is said that only after a Sage of one generation finds the next Sage will the secrets be passed down orally, and all of their knowledge entrusted entirely to the successor."
After finishing, Slytherin glanced at Wade and added, "But seeing you like this, I can tell that your lineage must have broken at some point as well. Even though you still possess the power of an ancient Sage, you have lost the mission that comes with it. How truly pitiful…"
"If that is the case, then how do you know all of this? Did you read it in a book? Where is that book?" Wade asked urgently.
"I did not learn this from books," Slytherin said. "Back then, the four of us all studied for a time under the ancient Sage of our era. He… was truly a good man. Those days were indeed the happiest and most carefree times of our lives."
As he spoke, a trace of nostalgia flashed across Slytherin's face. "Enough… do you have any other questions? If not, then do it. To die at the hands of someone who possesses the power of an ancient Sage is no disgrace to me, even if you have long since lost all of your inheritance."
Wade pondered for a moment before lifting his head and grinning at Slytherin. "In that case, let us make another deal."
Slytherin's eyes widened. "When I proposed a deal earlier, you did not agree!"
"That is because it was your proposal," Wade said with a smile. "Only when I am the one to propose it can it be most beneficial to me, without worrying about hidden traps."
Slytherin stared hard at Wade, then suddenly burst out laughing. "I knew it. As a student of Slytherin House, how could you not seek to maximize your own benefit?"
Simply destroying him would yield too little. Making a deal that favored himself and maximized the gains was far more Slytherin-like.
Having thought this through, Slytherin inexplicably found himself growing rather fond of this devious and cunning boy.
Seeing Wade's way of doing things reminded Slytherin of himself in his youth.
"What kind of deal do you want to make?" Slytherin asked directly this time.
"Can you sense where your grave is?" Wade asked.
Slytherin's eyes widened. "What are you planning to do?"
"Nothing. Do not overthink it. I just want to put some fresh flowers next to your grave.."
"Ha. You are after my grave goods, are you not?" Slytherin scoffed.
"No, no, no, I absolutely have no such intention," Wade Reynolds said with righteous seriousness.
"Of course, of course. No such intention. Then when you get there, you will simply loot the place and claim you just found everything lying around, that none of it counts as grave goods, right?" Slytherin sneered.
Wade stared at Slytherin in surprise. "How did you…"
"How do I know? Ha! Boy, I was pulling tricks like that back when your ancestors had not even been born yet," Slytherin said with a sigh of nostalgia. "That is why I keep feeling that you are very much like me when I was young…"
"You do not need to wax poetic, Mr. Slytherin," Wade said with a sigh. "Because while there are many kinds of good people, the thinking of villains is all pretty much the same…"
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