Looking at the long string of dark-gold messages in front of him, Link's throat moved a little uncontrollably.
What kind of effect was "the wearer's total magic power increased by 50%"?
If this effect were placed on an ordinary wizard, at most it would only increase their endurance.
But Link was different.
His own magic reserves, with the support of multiple super LV5 skills, had already reached an astonishing level.
If one only looked at it from a theoretical point of view, with this additional 50% increase, Link's total magic power could almost be comparable to veteran legendary wizards like Voldemort and Dumbledore.
"Huu..."
Taking a deep breath, Link moved his thoughts and replaced his usual "Dragon Slayer" title with the "British Ministry of Magic Minister" title.
The next moment, Link felt a violent surge of magic power bursting out from his dantian, rushing wildly through his body.
Suddenly hit by such an intense impact, Link's magic circuits could hardly endure it. While a wave of sharp pain struck him, he also temporarily lost control of his magic.
The powerful magic overflowed from Link's body without any warning, setting off a pure magic storm inside the Minister's office of the Ministry of Magic.
Emily had already been pushed away.
This was the only thing Link managed to do at the critical moment.
But the other things around him were not so lucky.
The desk, leather chair, floor, ceiling, even the alchemical barrier on the windows and everything else.
Under the violent turbulence of magic power, all of them were instantly shredded into fragments!
For a moment, the entire Minister's office was a complete mess.
The results of Fudge's entire afternoon of hard cleaning were completely destroyed by Link.
"Link!", Emily, who had reacted by now, ignored the possible danger and rushed toward Link while shouting.
She hugged Link, who had already stood up, and carefully checked him. Only after confirming that he wasn't injured did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Link kept his eyes closed. After a long while, he finally managed to barely control the surging magic inside his body.
He reached out and gently patted Emily's back to comfort her.
"I'm fine. My magic suddenly increased by half, so I couldn't control it."
Emily did not question why Link's magic had suddenly increased by half.
After being with Link for so long, she had long accepted the fact that his strength would suddenly skyrocket every once in a while for no reason.
This was Link's secret. She was certain that when the time came, Link would tell her himself. There was no need to ask.
So she simply breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she cast several Repairing Charms in a row, barely restoring the desk and leather chair that had turned into fragments, and forced Link to sit down again, because she was still worried about his condition.
Under normal circumstances, Link would definitely refuse at this time.
He might even have a deep "discussion" with Emily to prove his excellent physical condition.
But this time, Link surprisingly did not refuse.
He slowly sat down and then looked at his hands with some excitement.
The bonuses given by the system had always been completely real.
So his total magic power had indeed increased by nearly half, officially reaching the level of a veteran legendary wizard who could stand alongside Voldemort and Dumbledore.
The only small flaw was that this sudden surge in magic had put some burden on Link's body.
Because of that, he couldn't control this part of his magic as smoothly as before.
From the perspective of combat strength alone, this was actually a kind of weakening for Link.
But it wasn't really a big problem.
Thanks to the extremely high level of Occlumency, Link's mental power was enough to control such a huge amount of magic.
So the only thing left was for his body to adapt.
And that was easy.
Link estimated that after a period of adjustment, he would be able to fully turn this portion of magic into real strength.
By that time, he would truly be able to stand evenly against wizards at the level of Voldemort and Dumbledore.
There was also the hidden quest series "I Am the Minister!"
Judging from the rewards, the prizes of this hidden quest series were unbelievably generous.
The wearer's spell power increased by 50%.
The wearer's magic control increased by 50%.
Each of the remaining two stage title rewards could give Link a major increase in strength just like the "British Ministry of Magic Minister" title.
Not to mention that after completing all three parts of the quest, there would also be a final reward title that increased all three major attributes by 60%.
One must know that titles cannot be worn simultaneously, and switching titles also has a built-in cooldown of about two seconds.
That meant Link could only wear one title at a time in a short period.
But the "I Am the Minister!" title would allow Link to possess the buffs of all three attributes at the same time.
Most importantly, Link believed that with the huge increase in magic control, the surge in the other two attributes would not bring too much burden to his body.
In other words, although this title increased attributes far more than "British Ministry of Magic Minister," it would not require time to adapt like now.
Once Link put it on, his strength would increase completely and immediately.
He could even jump straight into battle.
This was practically a bug.
As various scenarios of himself obtaining the "I Am the Minister!" title kept appearing in his mind, Link rarely showed a trace of intoxication and excitement.
But these emotions only stayed on his face for a few seconds.
Link hooked his finger, and the cigar Fudge had hidden in the safe automatically flew over.
A crisp snap of fingers sounded, and the cigar was cut and lit.
Huu...
A dragon of smoke flowed out.
Within the spreading smoke, the power of Occlumency rapidly cooled Link's emotions, returning his expression to calm.
A person's mental age comes from experience, not simply time.
Since transmigrating here and experiencing so many things with the mind of an adult, Link was no longer the impulsive young man from his previous life.
With the help of Occlumency, he was no longer a slave to emotions, but their master.
And once he calmed down, the truth hidden behind the enormous benefits in this matter revealed itself.
Were those rewards really that easy to obtain?
Probably not.
After all, according to the earlier quest notification, the progress for the French Ministry of Magic had dropped a lot again.
Combined with the previous analysis with Dumbledore, Link could now be certain that France was the base of Voldemort and those shadow figures.
The system was tempting him to directly confront those shadow figures.
But so what?
If it meant confronting them, then so be it.
They were bound to fight sooner or later anyway.
This was not only about the interests of the entire region and the Flamel family, but also about the struggle for the King's Blood.
Just absorbing the tiny bit of King's Blood left behind by that shadow figure when he escaped had already caused Link's skill levels to rise so much.
So what kind of effect would it have if he absorbed all of the opponent's King's Blood?
Link could hardly imagine it.
A trace of scarlet appeared in Link's eyes.
He stood up from the chair and walked to the window.
Looking at the deep darkness outside, now exposed because the magic barrier wall had been destroyed, a ferocious smile slowly appeared on Link's face.
———
[Inside A Secondary Reception Hall Of A Large Castle]
The fire in the fireplace was burning fiercely.
From the perspective of a professional fire-starter, too much wood had been added inside.
Amid the crackling explosions of the firewood, small sparks constantly jumped out, trying to escape the fireplace and ignite the carpet outside, as if wanting to teach those who lit them a deep lesson.
They succeeded quite easily.
But to their despair, when the sparks landed precisely on the dark red carpet, the expected flames and smoke did not appear.
Instead, the sparks extinguished at an astonishing speed.
Under the flickering firelight, a small monster was slowly crawling on the carpet.
This monster's entire body was almost wrapped in bandages, and most of its lower body had disappeared. It could only crawl on the ground using two claw-like, incomplete hands.
And if one could overcome the eerie fear of this humanoid monster and walk around to the front, they would see that the long thin face had no nose.
Yes.
This monster was Voldemort.
More precisely, it was Voldemort after being struck by Link's steam explosive bomb.
Even with the warmth of the fireplace, Voldemort's body was trembling nonstop, as if he were extremely cold.
Crack!
Another sharp burst came from the firewood in the fireplace.
The flames surged upward, faintly lighting up an area not far behind Voldemort, as well as a shadow figure with only one arm.
Beside the shadow figure was a huge mountain of corpses.
Thick black-red blood continuously flowed from beneath the pile, coating the smooth marble floor with a heavy layer of blood and dyeing the wool carpet, once white like clouds, into dark red.
"Next." The one-armed shadow figure spoke softly.
The voice was unexpectedly pleasant, carrying a kind of masculine strength while also sounding gentle.
As soon as the words fell, a thin middle-aged man stepped out of the darkness and knelt trembling in front of the shadow figure.
"M-Master!", The man said with trembling.
Yet his expression was not fear, but excitement and worship.
As if kneeling here was his honor.
Unfortunately, the one-armed shadow figure had no intention of talking with him.
He simply nodded, and the dagger in his hand stabbed fiercely into the man's left chest.
"Urgh!"
Countless gray-white lights flowed along the dagger from the man's body into the shadow figure's hand.
The man's skin gradually lost its color and warmth, until he completely lost his life and turned into a cold corpse like one struck by the Killing Curse. Only then did the shadow figure pull out the dagger.
Thud!
The corpse fell into the pool of blood and became part of the massive pile of bodies.
Meanwhile, the one-armed shadow figure turned his head and carefully observed his severed arm.
There, countless gray-white lights were twisting and writhing, as if trying to break free from some restraint.
But no matter how they struggled, it was useless.
The one-armed shadow figure let out a long sigh and looked into the darkness again.
To his surprise, this time he didn't even need to speak before a figure hurried out eagerly.
It was a little girl about eleven or twelve years old. She wore a rough brown maid's outfit that didn't fit her well.
Her apron was covered with wet stains and dirt, and her blond hair was dry like straw. At a glance, it was obvious that her life had not been good.
But in contrast to her poor appearance, she had an extremely beautiful pair of pure blue eyes.
Those eyes were staring straight at the one-armed shadow figure, shining with expectation and devotion.
This made the arm the shadow figure had already raised freeze in mid-air.
After a long moment, the shadow figure lowered the dagger.
Looking down at the girl, he said, "Which family are you from?"
"Ch… Chasfield…", The little girl said weakly.
But just as her words ended, a woman in a luxurious dress rushed out of the darkness.
She grabbed the girl and pulled her aside, then pushed another boy, also covered in jewelry, in front of the shadow figure.
"M-Master! That child… that child is my most useless child! She's a Squib! She doesn't deserve this honor at all! Let little Rod do it instead! He's the most outstanding one!"
The woman said excitedly. The boy in front of her also proudly raised his head.
The one-armed shadow figure glanced at them coldly, then ignored them and walked back to the girl.
"You're a Squib?"
"Y-Yes, Master…"
The girl trembled as she spoke, tears streaming down her face.
Strangely though, she made no sound while crying, as if she had practiced it for a long time.
Perhaps thinking that even without the annoying crying sound, her tearful appearance was still unpleasant, she quickly lifted her apron and wiped her face.
Unfortunately, this did not stop the tears.
Instead, the dirt on the apron mixed with the tears and smeared across her face.
Seeing this scene, the one-armed shadow figure's body trembled slightly.
As if some string in his memory had been touched.
He slowly crouched down.
The shadows that had been surrounding him gradually dispersed, revealing the young face beneath.
"You're a good child. From now on, follow me.", As he spoke, he extended his only remaining hand.
The little girl instinctively shrank back in fear, but quickly reacted and moved her face closer.
The one-armed shadow figure gently wiped away the tears and dirt from the girl's face, then kissed her on the forehead.
As he did this, the black mist that had previously dispersed around him appeared again.
Driven by the gray-white light coming from his severed arm, the mist rushed wildly into the girl's body.
"Ah!"
The little girl could no longer hold it in.
She screamed miserably.
But soon, the screaming disappeared.
Because the girl discovered with surprise that along with the unforgettable pain, a huge power was constantly surging inside her body.
She tried raising her hand, and a mass of black magical flames instantly bloomed from her palm.
"I… I can cast magic? Mom! I'm not a Squib anymore!", The little girl shouted excitedly to the noblewoman.
But the joy on her face looked extremely glaring to the woman.
The boy beside the woman was filled with disbelief, his eyes full of venom as he looked at the girl.
In his view, this girl had stolen his opportunity.
But the next moment, a loud slap struck his face.
He held his cheek and looked at his mother in disbelief.
The noblewoman forced out a smile, pulled the boy down to kneel with her, and respectfully said to the one-armed shadow figure, "Master! Thank you for the blessing you have given to the Chasfield family!"