Wade was a little surprised by Tom's words. "Me? Extreme?"
He turned to André and asked, "Do you think I'm extreme?"
André forced a smile and replied, "N-Not at all. Those goblins were never good to begin with. The first thing they did when they saw us was try to silence us, and their scheme is downright evil. Wiping them out is truly the right thing to do!"
Wade nodded in satisfaction.
André was right this time. Judging by the system notifications he'd received after killing those three goblins, this was indeed a good deed! He wondered how many merit points he'd get for wiping out the entire camp of goblins.
Wade turned back to Tom and said, "Tom, I think you're being too cautious. Only by getting rid of those goblins can we be completely safe. And like André said, those goblins aren't any good."
Tom let out a sigh. "It's not that I pity them. I just think this is a risky move. There are so many goblins… Forget whether we'd get injured or even killed in an attack, even if a few of them manage to escape… they'll become endless trouble later."
Wade suddenly understood. "So you're not pitying them. What you mean is…"
"If we're going to act, we have to wipe them out completely, down to the last one!" A trace of ruthlessness appeared on Tom's face.
Watching the two of them, André couldn't help but shiver again.
These two, though still so young, were each more ruthless than the other...
"Tom, I knew it! I knew you weren't some good guy!"
"You clearly said I was a good guy in front of Nagini before… Whatever. Right now, you're the stronger one, so if you say I'm a good guy, I'm a good guy. If you say I'm a bad guy, then I'm a bad guy too…"
…
As for these "residuals" of ancient magic, Wade naturally wasn't planning to actually go looking for them.
Because he knew the source and nature of this power all too well, and more importantly, he knew exactly where the final destination of this search would lead.
In fact, if Wade wanted to, he could do just like Morganach had done and create this kind of energy himself — as much of it as he pleased.
The reason he let Tom and André in on the secret of this power was precisely because he intended to make use of it!
If Wade wanted to become the system-recognized Dark Lord in the future, besides having a slogan that could rally people, he needed something even more crucial — tangible benefits!
A kind of benefit that would make people flock to him eagerly!
And now, he had found it.
This kind of "magical power" that could make people stronger — Wade could have as much of it as he wanted!
By then, his followers would surely be no fewer than Grindelwald's or the future Voldemort's.
And their strength would be unmatched!
Once he had assembled his own force, how could the system not recognize him as the Dark Lord?
Seizing this opportunity with the goblins, Wade planned to use these "residuals" to first develop a trusted core group within Hogwarts.
It could be said, these goblins had truly come at just the right time…
Otherwise, he might never have thought of using the residuals in this way.
...
One thing Mr. Ogg had said was correct — this route was indeed very safe.
As long as they didn't stray from the path, Wade and the others wouldn't have run into those goblins at all.
So, the rest of the journey passed without incident.
Soon, they arrived at the endpoint.
Mr. Ogg had already been waiting there for some time.
"By Merlin's beard! Why did it take you so long?" Mr. Ogg asked impatiently. "Any later and I would've come looking for you!"
Andre stepped forward and explained, "We didn't dare go too fast... so we kept to a slow pace the whole way."
"Alright then... just be quicker next time." Mr. Ogg didn't suspect anything and led them out of the Forbidden Forest, back to the castle.
...
When they returned to the common room, even Wade felt a bit of fatigue.
None of them spoke much and they all went off to their dormitories.
As soon as they entered, Alphard poked his head out from his bed. "You're back! Nothing dangerous happened, did it? I've heard the Forbidden Forest is extremely dangerous!"
Wade pulled over a chair and sat by his bed. "It was alright. Not as terrifying as you'd imagine."
Henry, who also hadn't fallen asleep, chimed in from his bed, "The Forbidden Forest isn't that dangerous, really. You might not know this, but according to my father, those Gryffindors sneak in there all the time to fool around... if it were really that dangerous, do you think they'd still come back?"
Tom lay straight down on his bed without saying a word.
Everything that had happened tonight was just too overwhelming, and he couldn't calm down for a long while.
Especially when Wade made his move…
Tom realized that catching up to Wade would require far more effort than he had imagined!
Those spells Wade used, ones Tom had never even heard of before, and that powerful Transfiguration for disposing of corpses…
The more he thought about it, the more frustrated Tom felt.
With that in mind, he grew even more certain that he needed that "magical power."
"There was definitely some exaggeration…" Wade placed Nagini, who had been coiled around his wrist, back into her nest at the head of his bed. "But I'd say this trip was a complete success."
"What did you find in the Forbidden Forest?" Henry asked eagerly.
"We found several bunches of Venomous Tentacula, and even picked up traces of a unicorn. Managed to collect quite a few of its shed hairs too!" Wade vividly described their discoveries to his dormmates.
Of course, he left out the part about the goblins. Now wasn't the time to mention any of that.
While Alphard and Henry listened with envy, Wade casually called out to the air, "Toby, are you there?"
"Right here, Master Wade!" Toby appeared immediately before Wade, bowing respectfully. "As per your orders, Toby has been waiting right here for you!"
Seeing a house-elf suddenly appear, Henry and Alphard were both startled.
Tom sat up in his bed. "When did you summon Toby?"
"Before I went to serve detention, I sent him a message to wait here for me," Wade replied casually.
Tom asked, "What did you call him for?"
Wade picked up the pouch and waved it toward Tom. "We've got to sell the materials we collected, don't we?"
Then he handed the pouch to Toby. "Go on, follow the instructions I gave you earlier."
"Yes, Master Wade!" Toby accepted the pouch with a serious expression, then vanished into thin air.
Even though Toby's former master had fallen on hard times, he had still been a Dark wizard.
Because of this, Toby had often helped his master sell things in the past.
So, having Toby take care of selling these materials was entirely feasible.
Even though the shopkeepers might look down on house-elves, they still took elves who came to sell goods seriously—after all, there was almost always a pure-blood family behind them.
After all, not every wizarding family had a house-elf of their own.
So even if they looked down on house-elves, they wouldn't dare treat them poorly, for fear of offending the pure-blood family behind them.
Henry sighed and said, "I knew it, your family isn't simple, Wade. You even have a personal house-elf… We used to have one too, but she died of old age later."
Wade only smiled without offering any explanation. Letting them continue to misunderstand wasn't a bad thing.
Just as Wade was chatting with his roommates and getting ready to change and rest, there was an unexpected knock at the dormitory door.
"Come in, it's not locked," Wade called out.
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