After quickly tidying up the warehouse, Alan returned to the dormitory holding his cat.
Scott's bed was empty; he was likely out wandering around. This was for the best, so Alan casually placed the black cat on his roommate's bed. The generous Scott certainly wouldn't mind a few extra black paw prints on his sheets.
Watching the black cat frolicking on the bed, Alan closed his eyes and thought silently in his mind: Book of the Mage.
The next second, a phantom of a book slowly emerged in his mind. The cover of the book was dark, made of an indescribable material, and covered with interwoven starlight. But that wasn't important. With a thought from Alan, the book flipped open to a page.
Necromantic Creature Transformation Magic Circle
This was the title of the page, and also the magic circle that Alan had just successfully put into practice in the warehouse.
"As I thought, this thing isn't a delusion of mine."
Alan opened his eyes, finally recognizing reality. Great, he wasn't mentally ill.
Knowing this, Alan let out a huge sigh of relief. This strange Book of the Mage had suddenly appeared in his mind a few days ago. Just like a real book, he could check and flip through it at any time. However, most of the content seemed to be locked by some kind of power. At first, Alan could only see the first few pages, but as time passed, he was able to see more and more content. For example, the Necromantic Creature Transformation Magic Circle had appeared just last night.
But a very strange point was that although the name of this book was Book of the Mage, the content unlocked so far all seemed to be about the undead, curses, and the like. Generally speaking, if a normal person suddenly gained this kind of ominous ability, they would surely feel some unease and misgivings in their heart. But Alan didn't really care. Since he had received this special ability, he might as well accept it properly. Furthermore, with his current level of knowledge, trying to figure out the origins of this book was simply a pipe dream.
Having sorted all this out, Alan climbed onto Scott's bed and happily rolled around with his undead cat. Coming from the cat was that same familiar cold touch.
It was the last day of July. A week had already passed since Alan received the letter from Hogwarts.
In the afternoon, Alan was weeding in the courtyard of the children's home. Because it hadn't been tended to for a long time, the yard was overgrown with weeds, and the wild grass had even submerged the paths, making it impossible to walk. The government naturally wouldn't waste precious funds on such an insignificant place. As a matter of course, the children in the home served as cheap labor. Alan, for one, wouldn't refuse.
However, almost half of the children had slipped away while the caregiver wasn't looking, and most of those remaining were slacking off or messing around. One could get a glimpse of the personalities of the children in this home from this. It really was quite terrible. As he had said before, the children who ended up here all had more or less problematic personalities. This wasn't him talking behind people's backs. The environment is the biggest influence, and the children here were helpless against it. Fortunately, Alan had been an adult in his previous life, so his personality hadn't become twisted in such an environment.
The two caregivers didn't seem to care either, just lazily pacing around the yard on patrol. Judging by this efficiency, they might not finish tidying the yard until the summer vacation was over. Seeing this, Alan naturally joined the ranks of those slacking off. Of course, while slacking off, he wouldn't be idle. He could still flip through the Book of the Mage in his mind and study the content within. In the eyes of others, he just looked like he was spacing out. This was also an advantage. Being able to slack off inconspicuously was an ability every worker dreamed of.
Over the past week, he had been trying to learn the magic from the Book of the Mage. For instance, this curse-type spell called the Weakening Curse. But unfortunately, it seemed to be even harder than he had imagined. The key point of the spell lay in construction. Although incantations and gestures were necessary, they were more like auxiliary aids. The true core lay in the operation of mental power. Simply put, it was using mental power in the mental world to build a complex and precise energy structure, which was the spell model. As long as one could construct the spell model for the Weakening Curse, the spell could be cast successfully.
Thinking of this, Alan rubbed his forehead with a bit of irritation. Even though he had found a few tricks, it was still somewhat difficult for him right now. In the process of constructing the spell model, even a tiny bit of distraction would result in immediate failure. He had tried hundreds of times but had only succeeded once. Yes, once. Alan had always considered himself someone good at focusing, so this result couldn't help but make him feel a bit discouraged.
While he was troubled, his roommate Scott spoke to him.
"Hey, Alan, is that your cat?"
Alan looked in the direction Scott was pointing. He saw his undead cat standing on top of a wall that had lost its plaster, baring its teeth in a standoff with a burly spotted wild cat.
Is it going to fight? Alan became interested.
The undead cat's eyes were sharp, its pupils narrowed into two vertical lines. Heh, it was a domestic cat now; how did a mere wild cat dare to provoke it? Moreover, its master had already bestowed upon it extraordinary power.
Thinking of this, the undead cat arched its body, its fur standing on end, and its hind legs suddenly exerted force, pouncing toward the spotted wild cat like a black arrow.
And then: Slap!
It was swatted off the wall by a paw from the spotted wild cat.
"..."
"Your cat is really weak," Scott commented from the side, arms crossed, somewhat speechless.
Watching the undead cat rolling on the ground while whimpering at him, Alan suddenly didn't want to admit that it was his cat. How embarrassing. You were a noble undead creature, after all. It was one thing to lose to a wild cat, but couldn't you show a little backbone?
"It might just be a wild cat that looks like it," Alan said, averting his gaze expressionlessly.
"?"
As if hearing its master's words, the undead cat immediately stopped its clumsy performance, darted to Alan's feet like a shadow, climbed up his pant leg, and dove into his arms.
Watching the undead cat rubbing its head vigorously against Alan's chest, Scott's lip twitched. "This cat really likes you. Is its name Canned Food?"
"Yes," Alan replied with a helpless expression.
Canned Food was the name he had given the undead cat. It was to commemorate the canned fruit he had cherished for two months that had been knocked over. As a side note, Alan had also performed an embalming treatment on Canned Food according to the Undead Creature Embalming Guide in the Book of the Mage.
"Mr. Black, I'm reminding you again, cats are not allowed here," a caregiver stepped forward and said expressionlessly.
"Alright, sir, but this is just a wild cat," Alan nodded obediently, then tossed Canned Food aside.
Canned Food was agile, quickly disappearing behind the wall, leaving only a blurry black shadow. The caregiver nodded and said no more. Alan was already well-versed in how to deal with caregivers. As long as one didn't talk back and was obedient, most caregivers wouldn't make things difficult for a child.
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