The Dark Lord's Declaration of the New Century

Yvonne waited, curious.

A few minutes later, Alicia came out of the house with a book in her hand.

"Grissom asked me to give this to you a few days ago. I think it's pretty good. If you have time, can you take a look at it…" Alicia handed the book to Ivan.

Gleason? Yvonne thought for a moment. The name didn't ring a bell, except that she had seen it on a list of people that Doggett had given her.

Yvonne took it and looked at the cover, which was inscribed in gold and red.

There was also a painting in the background, hand-painted in a hand-drawn style, with only black and white lines to outline the scene. One could vaguely make out a medium-tall wizard surrounded by a group of people, standing in the middle with his left hand raised high and doing something.

Streaks of white light extended from his left hand and seemed to represent the endless light… and several wizards knelt at his feet in repentance as if they had been inspired.

Ivan frowned, suspecting that the book was a pamphlet for a cult, but why did it seem so familiar?

However, after casually flipping it open, Ivan found that it seemed to be a philosophical book mixed with religious ideas.

[He was born knowing and wise…]

[He is the only light in the darkness and will lead us to prosperity…]

After scanning a few lines, Ivan pursed his lips. He had never had much interest in such books, and suspected that Gleason was a religious fanatic and intended to recruit him…

Given that particular title and Alicia's advice, Ivan closed it and decided to take some time to read it on his way back.

If he was right, he would have to consider kicking Gleason out of Knockturn Alley so that he would not fool the other wizards.

"Mom, it's getting late. I'm afraid I have to go back," Ivan said as he put the book away and looked at the clock on the wall.

Alicia rubbed Ivan's hair with some reluctance, but didn't try to persuade him to stay, instead reminding him to send her regular letters when he got to school.

"Of course… I'll remember! Every month… once a week!" Ivan replied confidently.

"I'd be surprised if you did! How many times have you sent me letters over the years? And every Christmas you promised me, and when have you ever come back?"

Isiah flicked Ivan on the forehead, telling him to write it down and hang it somewhere obvious, otherwise he would forget it.

Ivan shrugged helplessly. 'How can you blame me?'

Every year at Hogwarts, there was a ton of nonsense to deal with, and for the past two years, he had either been trying to fuse his new blood, or he had been duped by Dumbledore and was cleaning up after him.

As the Triwizard Tournament was to be held at Hogwarts this year, and with Lord Voldemort secretly planning the Triwizard Tournament, Ivan did not know if he would be able to return for Christmas. He did not dare to give any guarantees and could only muddle through…

After saying goodbye to Alicia, Ivan used Apparition to return to Nick Flamel's mansion.

Even Ivan, who had more magic than most adult wizards, found it difficult to perform such a long-distance teleportation twice a day.

Fortunately, London was not too far from Paris, or he would have been sucked dry!

Ivan shook his head as he made his way from the courtyard to the house, where a group of smaller alchemical creatures were making noise, and where strange plants were swaying in the wind, welcoming him home.

Ivan was not surprised; he had become familiar with all the alchemical creatures and magical plants in the past month or so.

"Where's the teacher?" Ivan asked, looking around for Nick Flamel.

In unison, they pointed him in the direction of the studio, and Ivan realised that Nick Flamel must have been too engrossed in his research to come out for afternoon tea.

"What exactly is the teacher working on…" Ivan wondered as he looked at the closed door of the first-floor studio.

He had previously assumed that Nick Flamel was repairing the Resurrection Stone, the Deathly Hallows, but yesterday, when he entered the workshop for advice, he was surprised to see the Master Alchemist drawing a blueprint.

Ivan only had time to look at it for a few moments before he looked away, but he was so impressed that he clearly remembered the drawing of a strange device.

The object was made of magical runes, and it had a groove in the center where a bright red, irregular stone was set. It looked exactly like the stone he had seen before.

Apparently, the object of Nick Flamel's research had something to do with the Philosopher's Stone, not the Resurrection Stone he had been expecting!

However, if he remembered correctly, the stone had already been destroyed. What was the point of studying it?

Or… was the destruction of the stone actually a hoax?

Even if that were the case, Ivan found it odd.

Because Dumbledore explicitly stated that Beethonic-Leme had "repaired" something, he speculated that it had something to do with the Resurrection Stone.

Nothing else fits at all.

Yvonne rubbed her chin, suspecting that Nick Flamel might be working on multiple things at once, but thinking better of it, she doubted it.

Dumbledore seemed anxious at the time, wanting to shorten the "repair" period as much as possible, and given their friendly relationship, Nick Flamel would not have to share the burden of researching other topics.

Sigh… never mind!

Unable to figure it out, Ivan shook his head and pushed it to the back of his mind. It was none of his business anyway.

After teasing the alchemical creatures and dousing the strange plants with water, Ivan went straight to his room and curiously opened the New Age Declaration.

Flipping to the first page, Yvonne was shocked to see the golden-red, enlarged foreword.

[We should judge a wizard by his or her level of magic, not his or her blood. Blood is but the foolish vision of the ignorant… This is the world of magic, and magic is power!]

"Wait, isn't that what I said? Why is it in this book?" Ivan asked, looking at the signature.

The cover… Ivan thought of something and looked at it again, suddenly remembering that he had killed Rhys Nott in the Great Hall over a month ago.

"No way!" Ivan had a bad feeling about this, and he quickly flipped through the pages, his expression changing rapidly.

"Yes?"

"Huh?"

"What?!"

…