Chapter 40: The Thorn Vow

Alex hesitated for a moment and looked at Murphy.

Lucius Malfoy?

Murphy said, "Just write that."

Alright, Alex complied.

Immediately, the line of ink was absorbed, and then a line of text appeared, "Hello, Lucius, I am Tom Riddle."

Alex was shocked as he looked at the notebook.

Indeed, this thing was a dark magic artifact!

Murphy, however, was somewhat pleasantly surprised.

This diary seemed quite easy to deceive.

Murphy suddenly became curious about the diary's ability to sense the outside world. "Can this guy sense what's happening outside?" he wondered.

But for now, it was time to focus on the main task. He instructed Alex, "Continue writing: 'Tom, I am a Hogwarts student, and my grades are not good. Can you answer a few questions for me?'"

The diary replied, "Of course, Lucius, I will do my best to help you."

This response was exactly what Murphy expected.

The young Tom Riddle, unlike the later Voldemort, wasn't as blunt and brutal in his actions. He was adept at using deception to achieve his goals.

In the original story, he had pretended to be a friendly and thoughtful friend, luring Ginny to share her secrets with him, thereby draining her life force to nearly become the nourishment for his revival.

"What is the recipe for the Potion of Living Death?"

"Sopophorous beans, distilled water, African sea salt, mugwort infusion, valerian roots, powdered daffodil bulbs. If you need, I can list out the detailed steps."

"What about the recipe for Felix Felicis?"

"Ashwinder eggs, bulbs of Fwooper, Murtlap tentacles, thyme, shells of Occamy eggs..."

"In what year did the Goblin Rebellion take place?"

"1612."

It seemed Voldemort was indeed an excellent student in his school days; he answered these academic questions without any hesitation.

This rapid and precise response gave Murphy the impression of chatting with the large language models from his previous life.

Now that the groundwork was laid, it was time to get to the point. "Tom, my spell teacher wants us to write a paper on secrecy spells. Do you have any ideas?"

"There are many spells for secrecy that I know of. The Unbreakable Vow can be used to keep secrets, as can the Fidelius Charm. If you're talking about preventing someone from speaking, then the Mute Curse and Silence Spell can render a person voiceless. What specific type of secrecy spell are you looking for?"

"Is there a spell that can make a person unable to move or experience intense pain, losing consciousness when they're about to reveal a secret? Or one that makes a person instinctively repel the idea of revealing a secret?"

Tom Riddle, a master of dark magic, quickly provided an answer: "For the first type of spell, I know quite a few. I highly recommend two of them."

"The first is Natasha's Tongue-Tying Curse, which causes a person's tongue to knot when they're about to reveal your secret, rendering them unable to speak. Its advantage is that it can prevent others from speaking about any of your affairs, but the downside is that it only stops them from speaking; it's useless if they use writing or other means."

"That won't do."

In the future, once the Muggle scientists in his magic research institute made research breakthroughs, they would definitely be eager to publish papers. Merely restricting their speech would not be sufficient.

"The second is the Witch Queen's 'Thorn Vow.' Long ago, in a small witch-ruled kingdom in Brittany, a witch used a terrible dark magic to control Muggle subjects. That spell was the Thorn Vow."

"First, the Muggle subjects would swear a vow to the Witch Queen. Whenever they thought of breaking their vow, their bodies would feel the pain of thorns wrapping around them. The more they thought of betrayal, the more intense the pain would become, until it killed them."

"But this spell is difficult to use on wizards with magical power. Its nature is that of a curse, and wizards have many ways to remove curses."

Murphy's eyes lit up. This was exactly what he needed!

He intended to use this spell on Muggles! "What is this spell?"

"This is a dark magic spell. Are you sure you want to learn it?" the diary asked.

Although it was a question, it obviously was an enticement. Murphy was more than willing to play along.

"Write, 'I don't think there's anything scary about dark magic. If we're afraid to learn a spell because it's dangerous, then we might as well not ride broomsticks and live like Muggles, which would be the safest.'"

"But, Professor, dark magic can twist a person's mind," Alex didn't write immediately as Murphy said but objected, "I think learning dark magic is not good. Moreover, this spell seems very evil, forcing a person to remain loyal is too dangerous."

Murphy gave him a look, "Have you studied dark magic?"

"…No."

"Then you don't know jack! Stop blabbering and write."

"…I think this diary is affecting your mind," Alex tried to persuade again.

"Heh, don't want the Galleons?"

"…"

Alex wrote.

Then the diary replied, "What you said is excellent, we think alike. The spell is 'Spinas votum' (Thorn Vow)."

After saying that, the diary even displayed a hand-drawn illustration, describing the pronunciation and gestures of the spell.

The text on the illustration was in a handwriting completely different from Tom Riddle's.

Murphy immediately realized that the diary had shown him the original text from a book that Tom Riddle had once read.

He was a bit stunned.

It could do that! Didn't this mean he could potentially read all the books Tom Riddle had ever read through the diary?

Murphy had a clear understanding of his own magical level. With the logical advantage and determination of a transmigrator, he was much stronger than an average Hogwarts student, about on par with Hermione in the original story.

In terms of combat and spell techniques, he had some talent, but at best, he was at the level of an average Auror.

Regarding magical power and magical talent, he actually couldn't even come close to Voldemort, who Dumbledore considered a genius.

After all, Voldemort was the kind of genius who created top-tier dark magic artifacts like the diary at the age of 16.

Even throughout Hogwarts' history, there weren't many students more talented than Voldemort.

Based on his understanding of himself, Murphy had always been relatively well-behaved in school. He hadn't dared to touch things like dark magic because he knew that without a teacher's guidance, studying those dark arts on his own could end badly.

But now, with a master of dark magic right in front of him, wouldn't it be a waste not to make use of it?

With this thought in mind, Murphy copied down the spell and practiced it a few times following the key points indicated in the illustration until he felt a surge of magical power, confirming the spell's authenticity.

"Thank you very much, diary. This spell should be able to complete the paper."

"You're welcome. It's a very special spell, but it also has many flaws. In fact, the fact that it only works on Muggles makes it less useful."

"Do you mean to say that you know of a better spell?"