The Dark Lord's Guide to Employment at Hogwarts

"Tom...why are you here today?" Old Tom asked in surprise.

Based on his understanding of his son, he would not leave his forest easily.

"Nothing... I want to read a book today, and your place seems nice... Can I read a book here?" Tom said.

"Of course." Although Old Tom was surprised by Tom's normal behavior, he did not mean to refuse Tom.

Although the two of them still seem unfamiliar with each other...but the attack a few days ago has actually made their relationship much closer.

Old Tom stood up, looked around his room, then walked to a desk piled with various books and picked up a pile of books with difficulty.

He wanted to clear the table so that Tom could have a place to sit down and read.

Tom took out his wand and lightly tapped it, and the books on the desk floated up automatically, and then were stacked one by one in an orderly manner in the corner of the wall.

Old Tom's hand felt lighter. "Oh...thank you...it seems that magic is very convenient after all."

"You've just recovered from a serious injury, so don't push yourself..." Tom paused, then asked, "Are they gone?"

"Well... they just boarded a ship to France this morning... What happened in the past few days has had a great impact on them. It's a good thing for them to go out and relax." Old Tom said calmly.

Mr. and Mrs. Riddle are old people after all. Even though Levid removed many bad memories during treatment, the experience that day still inevitably caused some damage to their spirit.

So, Old Tom let them go on a trip to relax.

Then, the father and son suddenly stopped talking, and each sat silently at the desk, reading their own books...

Meanwhile, Old Tom asked his servant to make a pot of tea for him and bring him some snacks.

As for the butler, Mr. Augustus, he was busy recruiting new guards.

But the results were not very good.

Because of what happened that day, the Ministry of Magic announced to the Muggles that robbers had robbed Riddle Manor and many of its guards had died.

This scares the Muggles...

Few people dare to work in such a dangerous place.

Mr. Augustus had to raise the salary to barely recruit a few people...

I don't know how long it took, but Tom suddenly stood up and came to Old Tom.

"What's the matter?" asked Old Tom in surprise.

He always felt that his son was a little abnormal today.

"Can I see the book you are reading?" Tom asked.

"The book I'm reading?" Old Tom flipped through the book in front of him and glanced at the cover. "I'm not sure if you'd like it..."

"I can try... I'm sorry to bother you." Tom said.

"It's okay, I've read this book many times."

As Old Tom spoke, he handed the book in front of him to Tom.

When Tom picked it up, he used a strand of his own hair to make a beautiful bookmark and put it on the page that Old Tom had just read, and then he turned it over to look at the title.

"The Republic...Plato..." Tom murmured, reading the title and author on the cover.

"Plato is a philosopher in ancient Greece, and The Republic is his representative work," Old Tom gave a brief introduction.

"Is that so..." Tom frowned. This was indeed not the kind of book that could attract him, but he still did not put the book down. Instead, he took it back to his desk, as if he really intended to read it carefully.

Old Tom looked at his son's actions and suddenly understood something. Was this...his son trying to understand him?

However, this method is a bit too clumsy...

Old Tom thought for a moment, put down the book he had just picked up and said, "Tom..."

Tom looked at his father.

"You read my book, then... can I read your book?" said Old Tom.

Tom looked at the pile of magic books on his desk and nodded. "Of course... but you might not understand it."

"It's okay. I can try it too." Old Tom smiled.

Tom was slightly stunned when he heard this. He had just said this.

He picked up the wand again and lightly tapped it, and then the books he brought automatically flew to Old Tom's desk.

"Thank you..." Old Tom picked up the books curiously and looked at them. Then he picked up the thickest one, "A History of Magic", from the many spell books and began to read it with great interest.

The room became quiet again, with only the occasional sound of turning pages being heard.

Old Tom read very quickly, especially when he was reading a history book like History of Magic which did not require much thinking.

In about an hour, he finished reading the thick "History of Magic".

Then, he picked up a book called "Advanced Spell Analysis" and started reading.

Compared with old Tom's reading speed, Tom's reading speed seems a bit slow.

Tom was completely bewildered by the book "The Republic," which covered a wide range of philosophical, political, artistic, and educational content.

It was because he lacked the knowledge in this area that he couldn't understand many things.

These contents are not as straightforward as books teaching spells...

By the time Tom had finally finished flipping through the pages, he realized it was already noon.

Old Tom had already finished reading Tom's book and started reading his own book again.

Old Tom seemed to sense Tom's gaze.

"It's noon, let's eat first." Old Tom put down the book and said.

"Okay..." Tom didn't refuse.

The two walked out of the study and came to the restaurant outside.

Old Tom rang the bell on the dining table.

The servants immediately brought lunch for the two of them...

Lunch was simple, with each person having a perfectly grilled steak and a few pieces of soft bread.

In addition, it is served with some fresh milk.

While the two were eating, Old Tom suddenly asked, "How is it? Can you understand it?"

"I don't quite understand..." Tom shook his head honestly.

"That's perfectly normal, Tom. If you don't understand the history of the Muggle world, it's difficult to grasp the ideas discussed here," Old Tom said with a smile. "Of course, once you have sufficient knowledge, you'll find that the reflections these ideas evoke are truly fascinating..."

"Well... can you understand my books?" Tom asked casually.

"Fortunately, except for A History of Magic which tells the history of the wizarding world, the other books you have are all about the use of spells... There is nothing special to think about." Old Tom replied.

To him, these magic books of wizards are just like reference books.

It just teaches you how to use magic, but doesn't mention much about the principles of magic.

"It's very boring, isn't it? Especially the History of Magic..." Tom couldn't help but say.

"No, I didn't realize until now that wizard history is so interesting... Well, your political system is actually quite rough... Also, spells... Although I can't use them, but... Many spells are actually related to the wizard's emotions, which is really interesting. But..." Old Tom paused, then continued: "Those so-called 'black magic' are really creepy..."

Only then did Tom realize that the notebook on the dark arts that Dumbledore sent him was also among the pile of books that he had just shown old Tom.

"Existence is reasonable... Magic, like a sword, is a double-edged sword. Although it has some negative effects and may hurt yourself, it is much more useful than other spells when dealing with enemies. It can be said that black magic is the most powerful magic. It is the most powerful weapon of wizards." Tom said as a matter of course.

"Really?" Old Tom recalled the torture he'd endured that night. The curse he'd been under, according to his notes, seemed to be called the Cruciatus Curse. It was certainly powerful...

"Then... I guess those powerful wizards in your wizarding world are all very proficient in dark magic?" asked Old Tom.

"Yes... There are few powerful wizards who are not proficient in the Dark Arts," Tom said. "However... there are also some who are proficient in the Dark Arts but never use them... Despite this, they are still terrifyingly powerful..."

Old Tom asked curiously, "Who is this man?"

"You met Professor Dumbledore at St. Mungo's..." Tom sighed and said, "He's probably the most powerful wizard I've ever met... Even Grindelwald... oh, even the most powerful dark wizard in the wizarding world, is no match for him."

"A dark wizard, isn't that a wizard who is good at using dark magic?"

"You could say..."

"But you said that Professor Dumbledore doesn't use the Dark Arts?"

"Yes."

"But you just said that dark magic is more powerful than other spells?"

"Yes……"

"That's strange. Why is it that Grindelwald, the wizard who is best at the dark arts, is no match for Dumbledore, who never uses the dark arts, even though he uses the most powerful 'weapon' a wizard can use?"

"Uh..." Tom was stunned by his father's question.

Old Tom continued, "Although I don't know much about magic, but according to what you said... in your wizarding world, it's people who are powerful, not magic..."

Hearing this, Tom fell into deep thought...

Chapter 187 Do you think I am afraid of you? Actually, I am looking at a fool

Is it the magic that is powerful, or the person who wields the magic?

This question sounds like a philosophical question.

But it had a huge impact on Tom's values.

You know, even though he understood the power of love, Tom still believed that black magic was much more powerful than ordinary magic.

It is a fact that the Divine Edge Spell is more powerful than the ordinary Cutting Spell.

Also, when it's one-on-many, dark magic like Thunder Explosion is more effective than the Disarming Spell...

But now, after being reminded by Old Tom, Tom found a paradox.

If dark magic is really more powerful, then... why did Grindelwald lose when fighting Dumbledore?

"Yeah...why?" Tom was puzzled.

Recalling the battle between Grindelwald and Dumbledore in the Chamber of Secrets.

From Tom's perspective, Grindelwald finally used the extremely powerful Fiery Blaze.

But Dumbledore also used a fire magic to easily block it.

According to what Levitra said later, the fire magic used by Dumbledore at that time was an extremely advanced magic called Gulliver's Fire.

However, the Gublai fairy fire is not inherently aggressive. It has only one characteristic: once it is ignited, it will never go out.

Strictly speaking, it's not black magic...

It was this kind of Gulliver's Fire that had no offensive power, but Dumbledore used it in conjunction with Transfiguration at that time, and he used fire to fight fire, and managed to resist the erosion of the Grimfire Curse!

In other words, among all the magic used by Dumbledore on the night he defeated Grindelwald, there was no dark magic!

What Dumbledore has always relied on is his own magical skills that are superior to Grindelwald's, and of course, his stronger magic power.

"So... it's people who are powerful, not black magic..." Tom kept muttering.

Old Tom then added, "So, the reason Professor Dumbledore sent you the manuscript on the Dark Arts so you could study it was probably because he wanted you to be better able to prevent the Dark Arts after learning it, rather than asking you to think about how to use it."

"Is...is that so?" Tom felt his mind a little confused.

"Many years ago, when I was still interested in hunting, I had quite a few friends. Some of them were well-equipped, with all sorts of beautiful and accurate hunting rifles. All I had was an old, beat-up M1903 Springfield rifle. But every time they went out with me, they never caught as many prey as I did. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Tom asked curiously.

Old Tom said proudly, "Because none of their shots are as good as mine!"

A look of realization came over Tom's face.

Old Tom smiled and said, "As long as you're a good shooter, it doesn't matter what kind of gun you use. But if you're a bad shooter, then even the newest, most accurate hunting rifle won't help you. After all, it's still you who's using the gun."

"Yes..." Tom murmured, "If the wizard's own skills and magic power are not strong enough, then even if he masters the most powerful spell, he may not be able to defeat the opponent's disarming spell..."

At this moment, Tom remembered the time when he was practicing with Li Weide.

All those fancy magic that he spent countless efforts to learn could never hit Li Weide.

However, Livid's simplest disarming spell always hits him at the right moment...

At that time, Li Weide said that the change from duel mode to sparring mode should mean that he would give up using some high-damage spells.