Hogwarts: Hermione and I switched identities!

Thousands of years ago, Merlin was in the same position as me and used the same magic!

Perhaps I am the second person besides Merlin to know this magic!

Tom chanted the name of the magic spell.

"—Death Illusion."

Chapter 116 The Witch

I felt no discomfort whatsoever.

Tom didn't even feel anything dizzy or disoriented.

I just blinked, and then everything around me changed.

Instead of being in the Momo Mountains, I found myself in front of a village.

There was only one thatched hut in the village.

The air was hazy, and Tom couldn't feel a trace of "life".

This is a realm of death.

An old man with a white beard sat in a rocking chair in front of a thatched hut, staring blankly at the sky, at the hazy gray sky, with a hint of bewilderment in his eyes.

The old man saw Tom and sat up slightly.

"A living person?"

“A living person,” Tom replied.

“Tell me your name, little one.”

Tom Riddle.

The old man repeated the name, then asked in surprise, "How could a living person come here... Did you see the magic I left behind?"

He suddenly stood up excitedly, walked around Tom twice in disbelief, and looked at the young boy: "This...so young? How is this possible!"

"You, you're human? Not a dragon?" The old man stretched out his palm towards Tom in disbelief, then shook his head. "No, impossible. How could a human learn this magic at such a young age!"

I've been searching for this magic for over a hundred years!!!

The old man suddenly went mad, his words filled with screams.

"I searched for over a hundred years, and even at the very last moment of my life, at the very last moment! Even at the very last moment, I still couldn't fully master this magic!!!"

At this moment, the identity of the old man in front of me is obvious.

Merlin.

A wizard who will be remembered, a great wizard.

A great being who can be called the first wizard.

And now, this great being stands right in front of Tom.

"Mr. Merlin...may I address you that way?"

"I don't care about those things, they're unimportant! I just want to know how you learned this magic. Does it mean that after a thousand years, wizards have become able to coexist with dragons?"

Tom: No, not really... I was just lucky.

"Luck makes you a magician? Do you think I'm stupid?" Merlin frowned. "Just the mindless dragon runes on them are enough for others to study for a lifetime. You... kid, just how many secrets are you hiding?"

Merlin's gaze swept over Tom's entire body, looking him over several times, trying to see through him.

But Merlin failed to do so; Tom was just an ordinary person, perhaps only a little more handsome than others.

“You… Riddle, I don’t care how you learned it, now, get out of here immediately, it will be too late once she discovers your presence.” Merlin pushed Tom, trying to drive him out of the gray fog.

"who is she?"

"Master of Death!"

As soon as Merlin finished speaking, a voice appeared above their heads.

"Tom Riddle, is that it? A very nice name. Bring him to me, Merlin."

Merlin's eye twitched visibly, and he finally sighed heavily: "You can't leave now even if you want to."

Tom found it hard to believe that Merlin, a man known as the world's most powerful wizard, could be so afraid of others.

“Come with me, Riddle.” Merlin picked up his wand—his wand was different from others, at least different from the ones Tom had seen before.

Merlin's magic wand was not a thin, small thing like a tree branch, but a huge, thick thing, a behemoth.

The staff was a meter long, and the tip was about the same thickness as Merlin's fist. He could only hold the middle of the staff to make himself look more harmonious.

"Mr. Merlin, are you really dead?"

Merlin rolled his eyes at Tom, and scoffed at the question: "You don't really think a wizard can live for over a thousand years, do you?"

"You wouldn't understand the concept of a thousand years."

"So how did you die?"

Merlin felt that Tom was being somewhat offensive by asking him that question directly.

But when he looked into Tom's eyes, he saw sincerity and longing in them.

This guy was eager to know more about his "death."

This appearance is exactly the same as my pursuit of knowledge back then.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Some say you died in pursuit of magic, others say you died of old age alone. But I’m really curious about what made a once-popular wizard disappear from this world without a trace.”

“Because…” Merlin remained silent, pondering whether he should tell Tom the answer, “Death is the only way to free me, you may not know that… no, you definitely don’t know that.”

How powerless you will feel when you have reached the pinnacle of everything in the world – talent, ability, power, money.

And it was at that time that I encountered 'death' itself.

Tom: "So, you died of old age?"

Merlin shook his head and pointed to a tall tower rising in the gray mist in the distance: "I said, I encountered 'death' itself, and that is 'death'. Go, Riddle, and I hope that when you come out, you won't end up like me, a part of this world."

This is the land of death; here, you will lose everything, and you will gain everything.

Merlin left behind a riddle, and his figure slowly faded behind Tom until he disappeared.

Before me stood a tall tower, a wizard's tower that rose above the clouds.

Tom was quite certain that such a building did not exist in the real world.

There aren't even any imitations.

If such a thing existed, it would definitely become a popular tourist attraction, but Tom had never heard of it.

Death itself?

Tom approached the wizard's tower, but before he could push the door open, it opened by itself.

There wasn't a speck of dust. Tom felt his breath catch for a moment when he stepped into the wizard's tower.

That familiar feeling returned.

When he first saw that dragon-patterned magic in the Momo Mountains, he had the same feeling as now, as if someone had squeezed his heart!

"Come on up, I'm at the top of the tower." The voice, muffled and uncertain, reached Tom's ears.

Tom walked slowly up the steps of the Wizard's Tower.

The first floor seemed to be where this adult entertained guests, with many tables and chairs, and a lot of fruit on the tables.

The fruits looked completely dry, but they still remained plump.

The second floor is the potion laboratory.

The potions lab here is much simpler than Professor Snape's; it contains nothing but cauldrons and vials.

However, those materials were ones that Tom had never seen before.

The third floor is a greenhouse... perhaps the concept of "warmth" doesn't really exist here.

However, Tom did see many things that shouldn't have been grown in the same season appearing in one piece of land.

The fourth floor is the owner's office, with a large number of books piled up everywhere, making it look somewhat messy.

Tom's vision didn't become clear until he reached the fifth floor.

The tower has only five floors, and Tom has already reached the top.

Unlike in the real world, Tom's view did not become wider when he stood at the top of the tower.

The world was shrouded in a layer of gray fog, and Tom could only vaguely see the ground below, which was bottomless, through the thick fog.

"Hey, little guy, stand a little further back, or you might fall off. You're not a ghost yet, you can't live forever like us."

Tom turned around abruptly.

He saw a person completely covered by a wizard's robe.

Her face was covered by the thick brim of the hat, with only two strands of golden hair peeking out from under the wizard's hat and falling across her chest.

However, judging from the person's voice, it should be a woman.

Tom immediately searched his mind for the names of female wizards... and powerful female wizards at that.

But he couldn't find it.

Tom was quite certain that this person had never existed in history.

“Little one, don’t look at me like that. Oh… was I being a bit too forward?” The witch took a step back. “Let me see you… Hmm, not bad, 12 years old, 12 years old?”

The witch hesitated for a moment, muttering "this age" over and over again.

12岁？

When did this kind of monster reappear in the world?

Unlike those third-rate wizards, the witch could see right through Tom, even down to his underwear.

The calluses on my fingertips are the marks of constantly stirring the crucible.

And then there was the lingering, strong herbal scent emanating from her. Although the scent might be faint to others, it was very distinct to her.