The students in front of the display case in the classroom didn't notice an extra person at the door; they were curiously looking at the items on display.
For example, the jeweled necklace placed in the third compartment, with golden leaves stringing together a pendant as big as an eye, surrounded by a circle of diamonds, and in the center a translucent ruby, still dazzling and radiant despite the baptism of time.
Unfortunately, this jeweled necklace was encased in glass and couldn't be taken out.
Lower down, there was a curved white staff, engraved with delicate magic text, exuding a mysterious aura.
Moreover, the staff was placed there conspicuously, without any protective measures.
Malfoy remembered his father also had a cane and instinctively wanted to pick it up and take a look.
"If I were you, I wouldn't touch it."
A cold voice suddenly sounded behind him, startling Malfoy, who quickly turned around.
Behind him stood a woman, with fiery red hair loosely bunned up at the back of her head, wearing a coffee-colored Homburg hat. Her skin was strikingly fair, and a thin gold chain with a gold pocket watch at the end hung from the side of her brown wizard's robe.
This was a woman whose age was hard to determine, because she appeared to be just in her early twenties, but her eyes and demeanor were like those of Professor McGonagall's contemporaries.
The woman looked down at Malfoy and said indifferently, "This bone is engraved with runes representing 'malice.' Anyone possessing it will fall seriously ill within a short time—class time has arrived, go sit down."
Turning his head, Malfoy saw the other students had already dispersed and sat down, so he also hurriedly found an empty seat and sat down.
"I am Basheeda Babulin, a professor of the Ancient Magic Script Class."
The red-haired woman glanced at her pocket watch and said:
"Today you took seven minutes and fifty-three seconds to enter the classroom, and Vid Gray, who arrived last, solved the puzzle I left in thirty-seven seconds."
Professor Babbling looked at Vid and asked, "Do you know the origin of that phrase?"
"Yes, Professor," Vid said. "Rumor has it that Odin discovered the runic language on the World Tree, and poets recorded his monologue—
Offering myself to myself, on that great tree unknown to any!
No bread to fill me, no drip to quench my thirst.
I looked down, picking up the runes,
Shouting as I picked, dropping from the tree.
Additionally, it was said in the poem—
Each word can lead to countless others; these characters hold profound meaning;
The characters are great and all-powerful, created by the God of Wisdom."
"Very good."
Professor Babbling nodded with satisfaction, her lips seemingly lifted slightly upward, but she was evidently very stingy with her smiles, so her expression didn't change significantly in the end.
"Vid Gray."
"Yes."
"From now on, you are prohibited from solving the entrance puzzles—this is for the other students."
Professor Babbling's words made many students pull a long face, while Hermione looked eager to try.
"The characters with magical power passed down from ancient times to today mainly include a few—"
Professor Babbling continued, "The Oracle script of the East, the seal script of the Ganges River basin, the cuneiform script of the Two Rivers Civilization, the hieroglyphs of Egypt, and the runic language on this land—these are what we refer to as Ancient Magical Runes."
"In my class, you will learn the writing, reading, and translation of runic texts. As Vid just mentioned, these characters represent the revelations of magic and gods, possessing mysterious powers."
"Wizards who can interpret and master runic characters will possess greater magic power and wisdom."
"But if you find the content of this class obscure and hard to understand, or if you're unwilling to put in the effort to memorize the basic phonetic tables and symbol sets, I advise you to drop this class early to avoid wasting both your and my time."
"I only accept the smartest and most diligent students!"
To be honest, Vid's class, unlike those who blindly chose subjects in previous years, knew about the difficulty of Ancient Magical Runes before choosing the course.
They dared to choose it, naturally having great confidence in their intelligence. Upon hearing the professor's words, their faces were filled with an eagerness to prove themselves.
Professor Babbling tapped with her magic wand, and a palm-sized wooden board in the display cabinet flipped and flew to the center, instantly enlarging to half a person's height, with a black symbol engraved on it.
Soon, the symbol began to brighten, its color turning to a red as if flames were burning, and the temperature in the classroom seemed to rise a few degrees.
"This is kenaz," Professor Babbling said. "It symbolizes light, flame, and sacred wisdom."
"At the same time, it can also represent friendliness, strength, healing, and warmth—why are you not writing it down yet?"
The sound of flipping books and taking notes instantly filled the classroom.
"The meaning of individual runic characters is complex; we need to determine the basic meaning from its position and surrounding text. Let's look at a few examples..."
After the brief introduction, Professor Babbling quickly delved into the main content, speaking not a word of nonsense, only densely packed knowledge points.
So much so that the students were almost choked on it.
Initially, some were curious to look at the wooden board displaying the runic script, but later on, everyone was just focused on frantically taking notes, writing pages filled to the brim with notes.
Among everyone, only Vid seemed relatively at ease.
After all, he had memorized the entire Rune Dictionary, and most of what Professor Babbling taught he already knew. He couldn't count how many times he had applied it practically, so understanding it posed no difficulty.
Of course, this is not to say that the Ancient Magic Script class was meaningless for him—
Previously, most of Vid's study of Ancient Magical Runes was through self-study, and while Professor Morry had taught him some during Alchemy, it was only taught when needed, never systematically organized, leaving gaps and bias.
Professor Babbling not only deeply explained the content of the books but also extended beyond them, bringing Vid great benefits, even giving him more ideas for Alchemy and Magic Spell usage.
However, most of the other students in the classroom started sweating on their foreheads, turning pale, and the more they listened, the clearer yet more confused their eyes became.
Finally enduring until the class ended, Professor Babbling waved her magic wand, and several lines of ancient magical runes appeared on the blackboard.
"This is a piece of ancient literature. When you go back, translate it. This is your assignment—rest assured, these are very simple words and have not gone beyond what we discussed in today's class."
Professor Babbling waved her hand, causing all the boards to return to the display shelves. Then she stowed away her magic wand and left with light steps.
A while later, a student in the classroom burst into tears.