Start by logging into the Old Man's Ring at Hogwarts

Even if the Chamber of Secrets is forcibly broken, the locket left by Slytherin is still needed to unlock the legacy.

After you meet the above conditions, you will need to be tested to see if you are a Slytherin student.

Perhaps someone might, like Zicomo suspected, slip through using the Slytherin house crest. But that would only grant them two more opportunities to browse the inherited memories.

In fact, there is a bloodline detection spell on the Slytherin statue. If the person who unlocks the legacy is a descendant of Slytherin, then the legacy memories will be imprinted in his mind.

If not, then like Zikomo, the inherited memories will simply flash through your mind and be over. How much you can remember depends entirely on your own ability.

Fortunately, Zicomo possessed strong mental power and forcibly imprinted these inherited memories into his mind. This allowed him to slowly peruse this legacy within his consciousness.

"Memory transfer complete~"

After the statue finished doing all this, it returned to the steps, its eyes dimmed, the pendant box on its chest popped out, and then it stopped moving.

Zicomo picked up the locket and tried to press it back into the groove on the statue's chest.

The statue's eyes lit up as it glanced at Zikomo. "Detection indicates you have already received the inheritance. Please leave this place immediately."

After saying that, it flicked the locket away again.

This scene was exactly what Zicomo had anticipated. Slytherin certainly wouldn't allow anyone to exploit such a loophole; at least, he hadn't made the statue a disposable item. It seems he still worries that his legacy might not be passed on.

Poor Tom, he had just discovered the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin and hadn't even had a chance to explore it properly. He was excitedly planning to take the Basilisk out for a stroll, but he was spotted by Myrtle as soon as he stepped outside.

Ruthless and ruthless, he went all in and used Myrtle's life to create his first Horcrux. Little did he know that Myrtle's death would arouse Dumbledore's suspicion.

From that moment on, the cautious young man never entered the Chamber of Secrets again, thus missing the chance to inherit the Slytherin legacy. Had he obtained the legacy, he wouldn't have been killed by the backlash of his own Avada Kedavra curse.

Because Zicomo saw incantations to resist instant-death magic in the Slytherin tradition.

But it's too late now. His senior, Tom, has become Voldemort and is currently on the run in the Albanian forest.

Speaking of this, Zicomo had to admire Voldemort's ability to escape. Dumbledore had been tracking him for almost half a year, but still hadn't caught him.

Zicomo put away the locket and turned to leave, restoring the entrance to its original state before he went. He would most likely never return to this place.

…………

For the next period, Zicomo absorbed the legacy of Slytherin. During this time, Hogwarts remained relatively peaceful.

The reason it's relative is mainly because Harry and Malfoy are still having a falling out.

With Snape providing full guidance, Malfoy has made rapid progress.

With his mother around and Lupin occasionally giving him extra help, Harry's skills are steadily improving.

So the two resumed their routine of fighting every now and then. But most of the time, it was Harry who had no choice but to accept the challenge.

Although occasionally sparring with Malfoy could test whether his skills had improved, Harry really didn't want to get entangled with Draco.

Unlike Draco, who was exempted from Potions class and Quidditch training by Snape, he was not.

Harry not only had to spend time on these two things, but also had to find time to practice Transfiguration, as he was still thinking about the Animagus.

Some time ago, Harry went to Professor McGonagall to ask about Animagus transformations. Seeing that Harry was determined and didn't seem to be joking, Professor McGonagall gave him a training plan and set aside time each day to teach him.

As for why Professor McGonagall neglected her own protégé Hermione and instead came to teach Harry, it's mainly because Professor McGonagall had nothing left to teach Hermione.

Here's the thing.

On the day Hermione successfully transformed into an Animagus, Zicomo gave her the three-piece artifact set rewarded by the system. These three pieces directly elevated Hermione's strength to the level of Professor X.

As for her knowledge base, it's well known that Hermione is a bright and diligent little witch. And with Chicomo to guide her, Hermione faces no learning bottlenecks whatsoever.

In addition, Hermione often uses the "Zen Garden" time-speed feature to save real-world time, which means that in Professor McGonagall's eyes, Hermione's knowledge base is increasing faster than a rocket.

This led Professor McGonagall to believe that Hermione was abusing the Time-Turner she had given her. However, if Hermione had indeed abused the Time-Turner, the time difference would have caused her to become mentally exhausted and unable to concentrate.

However, Hermione always appeared energetic and cheerful whenever she visited Professor McGonagall, showing none of the aforementioned signs.

She was naturally unaware that Hermione wasn't using a Time-Turner, but rather a Zen Garden. Compared to a Time-Turner, a Zen Garden would give Hermione more time and eliminate the need to worry about time paradoxes and other issues.

Because of Hermione's rapid progress, Professor McGonagall soon ran out of things to teach her. To be precise, aside from Animagus theory, she didn't teach Hermione anything else.

Because she was the vice-dean and professor of Transfiguration, she was very busy. Therefore, she adopted a teaching method of assigning learning tasks to Hermione first, and then answering her questions afterwards.

However, whenever Hermione does her studies and doesn't understand something, she will ask Zicomo for help.

In the little witch's opinion, since her cousin was around, she could just ask him directly and there was no need to go to Professor McGonagall's office and disturb her work.

With Zicomo's abilities, teaching Hermione would naturally be no difficult task.

So every time Professor McGonagall checked Hermione's assignments, she found that the little witch had already figured out all the questions she had given, and there was no need for her to answer them.

When Hermione asked, she learned that it was Zicomo who was teaching her how to live.

This frustrated Professor McGonagall. Other teachers were supposed to be imparting knowledge, teaching skills, and resolving doubts for their students, but why did she become a ruthless task-assigning machine?

By the time Professor McGonagall wanted to change her teaching methods, it was too late. Hermione had already become self-taught with Zicomo's help.

This left Professor McGonagall with no sense of accomplishment in teaching her students.

If Snape knew what Professor McGonagall was thinking, he would surely sympathize. He hadn't even given Zicomo a single lesson. In a sense, he was worse off than Professor McGonagall.

In short, Hermione's success rendered Professor McGonagall's teaching plan useless, and now that Harry has come knocking, Professor McGonagall simply put that plan into Harry's hands.

Chapter 157 Harry and Malfoy Ceasefire, the Biggest Winner at the Border

That day, Harry went to see Zicomo.

He couldn't stand Draco's nagging any longer, so he decided to ask Zicomo for help.

“Hmm, how about you consider the gender-changing potion Hermione made last year? Trust me, once you become a girl, Draco will definitely stop bothering you,” Zicomo said, stroking his chin with amusement.

He remembered the day Harry turned into a girl; Draco was completely stunned.

“Zicomo, stop joking. You know how much of a commotion I caused at school when I turned into a girl. If I do it again, I’ll become the center of attention!” Harry said.

“In fact, you’re already the focus of the school,” Zicomo corrected.

Draco frequently challenged Harry to duels, a fact that had long been known throughout the school. Each duel drew a large crowd.

Moreover, Zicomo was somewhat surprised that Harry didn't seem to mind becoming a woman; he just disliked being stared at after becoming a woman.

It just goes to show that he underestimated the British aesthetic.

Just then, Lily appeared out of nowhere and asked Harry, "My precious son has actually turned into a girl? Why didn't you tell your mother about such an interesting thing?"

Harry smiled wryly. "Mother, please stop making things difficult. Being a girl isn't something to be proud of. Zicomo, please help me think of a solution."

“Alright, how about I take the lead and you two agree to have a formal duel every six months or a year?” Zicomo suggested.

To be honest, Zicomo was tired of watching Harry and Draco's little duels. After all, they were duels in front of everyone, so the point was to stop when they were at their limit and neither of them would go all out.

Watching it once or twice is fine, but it gets boring if you watch it too often.

“Okay, then I’ll leave it to you.” Harry nodded.

Zicomo summoned Draco, and in his presence, Harry and Draco made a pact to have a duel after the end of each year's final exams.

As for normal times, we still treat each other the same way.

With final exams approaching, Draco is focused on his studies and doesn't have much time to bother Harry. After all, if he does poorly on his exams, he might get a beating when he gets back.

Draco readily agreed, thus ending the feud between the two.

…………

Border area, deeply rooted at the grassroots level.

Zikomo finally arrived at the main root of the golden tree. As soon as he looked up, he saw the enormous corpse of the dead prince, which was a head taller than the dragons in the borderlands.

Looking at the dead prince's corpse, the first image that came to Zicomo's mind was: a mermaid from the sewers.

Of course, it's not that neon movie, just the literal meaning.

The dead prince before them hung his head, leaning against the roots of the golden tree, his lower body resembling a fish's tail fin.

In addition, there was standing water on the ground and a dark, sewer-like environment.

The dead prince does indeed look like a mermaid in a sewer.

However, let's forget about the word "beauty"; the current dead prince has absolutely nothing to do with beauty.

The body, which was not completely dead, was being eroded by the power of the Death Rune and had begun to mutate.

As the first child of Queen Marika and the First King Gavri, Gold Godwin possessed both striking good looks and immense power. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been given the title "Golden."

But the corpse of the dead prince, corrupted by the power of death, constantly attempts to revive. However, having lost its soul, it cannot succeed. Godwin's corpse has begun to deform; he now looks even more sanity-destroying than Cthulhu.

No one knows who put Godwin's body here.

Perhaps that person originally intended to use the power of the Golden Tree to seal away the corrupting influence of death on Godwin. But with the shattering of the Elden Ring, the power of the Golden Tree weakened.

The Golden Tree not only failed to seal Godwin, but instead allowed the deathly power within him to spread out along the tree's roots, scattering the seeds of death throughout the cemeteries of the borderlands. This even led to the formation of Dead Roots.

What was originally intended as the graveyard of the Golden Tree, used by the Golden Fundamentals to absorb souls, has become a breeding ground for the dead. It has given life back to those who should have died.

However, this kind of life is twisted because they do not truly die.

The power of death prevents the soul from returning, which causes the unborn to constantly revive on their own corpses. Only divine power can kill them completely.

In addition, Zicomo had another question: how did the group of Black Knife assassins manage to assassinate Godwin on the night of the Black Knife Plot?

While exploring the royal city of Rodel, he learned some of Godwin's deeds.