"…Huh?"
Theodore froze mid-step, rubbing his eyes, wondering if he'd misread.
Innate Great Divine Power?!
In the Primordial World, such powers were almost as rare as Saints.
Any one Innate Great Divine Power, once fully mastered, meant its wielder could claim to be unrivalled below sainthood.
Take the famed Five-Colored Divine Light. In Kong Xuan's hands, it was said to sweep away all things—its power utterly outrageous.
Or Patriarch Minghe's Blood Sea Clone divine power—his own inborn Innate Great Divine Power.
In the Asura Blood Sea he had refined four hundred and eighty million Blood God Son clones. As long as one survived, he could resurrect from it.
The talent was called the number one life-preserving divine power—
So long as the Blood Sea did not dry up, Minghe would not die.
That was the sort of thing "Innate Great Divine Power" meant.
The system's eyesight was terrible, yes—but even so, it wouldn't mistake some low-grade local trick for such a legendary class of power.
Even Dumbledore'sFire God Cuts a Path—fire of the highest order in the wizarding world—wouldn't come close to that level on the system's scale.
For the system to call this a chance tied to an Innate Great Divine Power…
It meant the secret Madam Pince held was absolutely not something to be taken lightly.
It likely had everything to do with ancient magic.
Theodore's heart stirred.
After a while, he came out of the Restricted Section carrying a tall stack of banned books.
Madam Pince, almost trembling with excitement, checked and logged each volume.
When she saw that the total number of cleaned banned books had crossed one thousand, joy lit her face.
"In a hundred and fifty years," she whispered, "I'm the first librarian to have this many books cleaned during my tenure."
"Theodore, thank you so much!"
On his system screen, a new prompt appeared.
[You have slain more than a thousand demons in the Demon Cavern, causing the Guardian Immortal to marvel at your deeds.]
[Your relationship with the Guardian Immortal has reached Close Friend.]
[You have obtained the reward — Demon-Refining Pill Recipe.]
A spark of delight flashed in Theodore's eyes.
The Demon-Refining Pill recipe was finally his—a proper cultivation-support pill formula tailored to his needs.
Otherwise, even with his Profound Alchemy Insight talent, working out something suitable entirely from scratch would easily take months—a year or two wouldn't be surprising.
To truly ancient cultivators, that span of time barely counted as the blink of an eye.
But for Theodore, operating on the timescale of school years and crises, it mattered.
Having a ready-made foundation, then using his alchemy talent to improve it—that was the optimal path.
Madam Pince seemed to come to a decision as she looked at him.
"Theodore," she said, "what you've done for me is far beyond anything I can repay with wages or odd jobs."
"I'm going to tell you a secret. It's something Hogwarts librarians have pursued for over a thousand years."
"In this matter, I dare say not even the Headmasters of Hogwarts have known as much as we librarians do."
Theodore watched the rare pride surface on her face.
Then Madam Pince lowered her voice, sounding almost conspiratorial.
"Hogwarts' collection is, as you know, enormous. In every age, it's been the most comprehensive library in the wizarding world."
"Students can find all kinds of magic—up to and including the most dangerous forms of Dark magic."
"In fact, almost every great Dark wizard in history has, at one time or another, studied the banned texts of Hogwarts."
"We librarians know these books inside and out. We track exactly which volumes are added or removed each year."
"But there are a few books that, although once present in this library, have not been seen by any librarian since the time of the Four Founders."
"Even their titles have been lost."
"We believe the Founders deliberately hid them. Perhaps they didn't want anyone to find them—or perhaps the magic within was simply too dangerous. In any case, those books vanished from all records."
"For us librarians, this is a challenge—an insult, even. How can a library we manage contain books we cannot find?"
"And so for a thousand years, we've searched for clues. Every librarian adding a little more, puzzling over what those books were."
"By my time, with your help cleaning the Restricted Section, and the notes left by my predecessors, I can finally say with some certainty what at least one of those books is."
As she spoke, Theodore noticed his system text updating again.
[The Guardian Immortal long ago discovered that a secret chance lay hidden in the Demon Cavern, and for a thousand years has exhausted his mind trying to deduce its nature, finally concluding that it was tied to an Innate Great Divine Power.]
[These days, seeing you slay demons and purge evil without a hint of slackening, he has chosen to break precedent and share this secret with you.]
Theodore curled his fingers slightly, looking at Madam Pince with genuine curiosity and anticipation.
Her expression grew more animated, and her voice dropped even further.
"That book, the one the Founders discovered, came from a very distant magical journey. They must have gone as far as modern-day Middle East."
"There, they found an ancient magical text. Legend says it was written by an Arab madman."
"That book's name was…"
"The Necronomicon—the Book of the Dead Spirits."
Theodore's expression hardened instantly. Golden light began to leak between his fingers.
The moment Madam Pince spoke that name, he felt a faint echo of the same mad aura that clung to the giant squid flash through the Restricted Section.
Faint, distant, sealed—but unmistakable to someone who had just brushed it in full.
Madam Pince went on.
"And I've also confirmed that the other missing books only began appearing after the Founders obtained the Necronomicon."
"But sadly, it wasn't long afterward that Salazar Slytherin broke with the other three Founders and left Hogwarts."
"The remaining three either departed as well or soon fell grievously ill. Those books vanished from the library during that period."
"I used to think I had no idea how long it would take to piece all this together, but now, Theodore—thanks to you—"
"I don't think it'll be that long. Ten years at most, and we'll surely be able to locate the entire set."
"And when that happens… it could be a discovery that rewrites magical history."
Theodore drew a long, slow breath.
Everything about this made his instincts scream danger.
At his current level, there were not many things left in the wizarding world that could truly threaten him.
But anything tied to the disappearance of the Four Founders… and quite possibly connected to the world's "Heavenly Dao" itself…
That was far too sinister for him to take lightly.
"Madam Pince," he said seriously, "if the Four Founders went out of their way to seal those books, they must have had a reason."
"Maybe they didn't want anyone to discover anything about them at all."
"And… what if these books are like You-Know-Who? What if even speaking their names carries a curse?"
The mention of the Dark Lord, combined with Theodore's tone, clearly rattled her.
After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.
"You have a point. All right. I won't actively pursue this secret any further…"
Theodore's gaze deepened.
"Sorry, Madam Pince," he said gently. "I'm a cautious person."
Before she could react, his wand flicked.
Obliviate.
A Forgetfulness Charm struck home, temporarily wiping her memories related to those vanished books.
Only then did Theodore leave the Restricted Section.
Even so, he walked away with a heavy expression.
The sense of looming threat had faded a great deal—almost to nothing.
But not entirely.
In his mind, Professor Trelawney's prophecy rose once more.
"The ancient returns…"
His eyes sharpened.
No matter how deep the waters of this world ran, the right move was always the same:
Grow stronger. Faster.
And as a cultivator, there was no faster way than pills.
Theodore whispered in his heart:
"System, receive the Demon-Refining Pill recipe."
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