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

"I don't know either. I only know that this phenomenon started when I had just graduated. At that time, I embarked on a journey with great ambition, wanting to travel the world and write travelogues that would be popular with everyone."

But somehow, my spell started failing me frequently after that. Do you know how much of a blow that is to a bright Ravenclaw graduate?!

Lockhart recounted his tragic experiences, his voice trembling and even choking with emotion towards the end.

"Do you have a more specific timeframe? For example, when was the first time your spell failed?" Zicomo asked.

Lockhart thought for a moment and said, "Probably after I completed my first trip."

Where did you go at that time?

"The Albanian forest, what's wrong? Is there a problem with this place?"

What's the problem? There's a huge problem!

Helena hid Ravenclaw's tiara in this forest when she stole it. After Voldemort's body was killed by Harry, his remnant soul also hid in this forest. Nagini, the blood cursed orc who will become Voldemort's Horcrux, is also hiding in this forest.

What is so special about this forest?

What makes it so attractive to so many people?

Zicomo even suspected that the forest was cursed, because people who came out of the forest seemed to have no good ending.

Helena died there, Quirrell is now ashes, and Lockhart became a half-useless wizard after coming out of there.

Zicomo did not answer Lockhart's question, after all, he himself did not have an answer.

He decided to find out for himself sometime.

For now, let's deal with Lockhart's problem first.

His reason for helping Lockhart was certainly not out of a change of heart, but rather because he wanted to bring him under his wing.

Although Lockhart didn't have any real skills, he had a wide network of connections and was good at socializing.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have gained such a great reputation in the wizarding world.

Zicomo has no foothold in the wizarding world, so he wants to build his own team.

And the Lockhart in front of them was a potential subordinate.

Moreover, Lockhart himself is a topic of conversation and has a great influence on the wizarding world.

It can serve as his mouthpiece, disseminating information he wants the outside world to know.

For example, if Hermione were to reveal the 'Animal Communication Charm', and Lockhart were to help with the promotion, Hermione's reputation would undoubtedly rise to another level.

Chapter 103 Lockhart's Rebirth and Zicomo's Passion for Raising Characters

"Alright, let me first find out what exactly is wrong with you."

Zicomo grabbed Lockhart's arm, channeling his magic into his body while simultaneously projecting his mental energy to observe him closely.

"Don't resist."

After reminding Lockhart, he began to sense things carefully.

After the magic circulated within Lockhart's body, Zicomo figured out the problem with him.

Simply put, the magic channel is blocked, and the magic is interrupted during its operation, resulting in an imbalance in energy supply when casting spells.

This is why, although his magic always works, the results are often less than satisfactory.

Coincidentally, only the casting gesture for the 'Forgetfulness Spell' was unaffected.

In some ways, Lockhart's talent is actually quite strong.

The fact that his magic channels were blocked in many places was only slightly better than that of a Squib. Under these conditions, he was still able to cast spells effectively, proving himself a worthy graduate of Ravenclaw.

"I have a general understanding of your situation. Now you have two choices. One is for me to help you resolve the hidden dangers in your body, and the other is for me to give you a boost and make you even stronger."

Zicomo presented two options.

“What’s the difference in the cost of these two options?” Lockhart asked.

"There is no difference; the price is loyalty to me and never betrayal."

Zicomo's answer left Lockhart speechless; even a fool would know which option to choose if there was no difference.

“Yes, this is the first time I’ve tried the second option, so there might be some risks involved,” Zicomo added.

Zicomo's so-called increase in strength refers to the set of "skill runes" that the system rewards him with.

Each person can have five runes engraved on their body, but he hasn't experimented on humans yet, meaning Lockhart is essentially a guinea pig.

In fact, Zicomo wanted to experiment on Draco, but he hadn't received a reply from him for a long time.

Zicomo didn't know if Draco hadn't made up his mind or if his father had rejected him.

Lockhart pondered for a long time, but finally gritted his teeth and decided to choose the second option.

He didn't want to spend his whole life making a living by cheating and swindling. Besides, since he was already obligated to serve someone else, he naturally had to increase his own value so that he wouldn't be abandoned.

Having dealt with all sorts of people frequently, he was well-versed in this skill.

“Alright, in that case, take off your clothes and lie down,” Zikomo said.

Lockhart shuddered. Did he not only have to give up Loyalty to 607, but also other precious things?

Zicomo could tell from his frightened look that he was definitely not thinking anything good.

He rolled his eyes and said, "Take off your shirt, lie down, lie face down, and I'll treat you."

Lockhart then realized that he had misunderstood, and quickly took off his shirt and lay down.

Seeing Lockhart's somewhat nervous expression, Zicomo comforted him, "Don't worry, even if you die, I have a way to bring you back to life."

Zicomo likes to think of the worst-case scenario, so he described the worst-case scenario.

These words immediately turned Lockhart's face deathly pale.

However, it was too late for him to back out.

Zicomo pulled out a rune engraving knife and began cutting directly into Lockhart's body.

Since the magic channel is blocked, why doesn't he just cut a path for it?

That's the process; it's a bit painful.

Lockhart felt as if Zicomo's cuts on his body were an autopsy performed without anesthesia.

Zicomo had no choice but to give him a "tongue-lock" treatment, otherwise who knows what ghost stories would be circulating about Hogwarts the next day.

After channeling magic into Lockhart, Zicomo stopped.

He was thinking about what kind of "skill runes" to inscribe on Lockhart.

Thinking that this was the first subordinate he had taken in, he couldn't just let him die like this, could he?

So Zicomo decided to give him a set of defensive runes.

Lockhart finally waited until Zikomo stopped, and just as he thought it was over, he breathed a sigh of relief.

As a result, Zicomo picked up his carving knife and began to carve runes, which caused Lockhart to faint from the pain.

After all, it involves engraving runes on a person's body, which is equivalent to opening up new magical channels within the body, even more exciting than clearing the existing channels.

The main defensive runes are as follows:

The basic rune "Guardian of Faith" can withstand one fatal attack, with a two-day cooldown.

The advanced rune "Blessing of the Gods" increases both casting speed and movement speed by 25% when activated.

The advanced rune "Holy Shock" summons a bolt of lightning to attack the enemy, with a 1-second cooldown.

Zicomo didn't know why a lightning attack had gotten mixed into the defensive runes.

As for the final defensive rune, Zicomo did not inscribe it on him.

The effect of this rune is simply to reduce the cooldown of "Faith Guardian" by half.

It's not very useful; Lockhart can't be in a deadly threat every day, can he?

Zicomo thought for a moment, then inscribed two more basic runes.

One is "Vitality," that's right, this rune is called Vitality.

The effect is +1 to vitality, but Zicomo doesn't know exactly how much this "+1" means.

However, being lucky is never a bad thing.

The last one is the "Powerful Shot" engraved on his shotgun, which, when engraved on a person, increases the power of magic by 35%.

This can be seen as fulfilling Zicomo's promise to Lockhart to become stronger.

After completing the engraving, Zicomo carefully examined it and found that the runes engraved on people were different from those engraved on objects.

As mentioned before, engraving on a person's body is equivalent to opening up a new channel of magic.

Now that the magic channel has been successfully opened, magic is naturally flowing in, and the runes have been activated.

In other words, those passive skill runes will always be in an active state.

Runes that initiate attacks are in a fully charged state, ready to unleash an attack with a thought.

The only drawback is that a portion of Lockhart's magic will be restricted.