Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

Charlie held up the ruby-encrusted ring, slowly raising his hand and squinting in the light to examine its details.

The perfectly round ruby, without any sharp edges, appeared subtly deep under the light.

He deftly played with the ring, his fingertips gently caressing the inside of the brass band, where the engraved marks were clearly palpable.

A dense array of various spells and symbols Charlie had never seen before intertwined, all condensed onto a tiny ring with an extremely exaggerated craftsmanship.

Even just seeing it, and not yet wearing it, Charlie couldn't help but admire the ring's ingenuity.

However, compared to the exquisite complexity inside the band, its exterior appeared extremely simple, even bordering on shabby.

The plain, unadorned brass lacked any embellishments or lines, as if it had merely been hammered into a rough shape, followed by the crude insertion of the ruby.

At first glance, it looked like a piece of junk casually picked up from a witch in Knockturn Alley, whose mind had been addled by toxic fumes.

Yet, such an appearance did not hinder Charlie's fondness for it.

Naturally inclined towards practicality, he favored its function over its form.

Moreover, such an ordinary and inconspicuous trinket could perhaps play a different role at a certain moment.

“The person who made this ring must be a genius…”

Charlie brought it back before his eyes, observing the alchemical techniques like a work of art with some fascination, then said to himself,

“I wonder if the legendary great alchemist Nicolas Flamel could achieve this level.”

Having said that, he put Fawn, who had finished her food and was now clinging to his arm, down on the table.

Seeing herself being put down, Fawn didn't make a fuss, but instead leisurely found a spot and continued preening her feathers.

Charlie flicked off the few remaining crumbs from his hand, then spread his palm and, without hesitation, slipped the ring straight onto his index finger.

Charlie noticed that the moment the ring was on his hand, the shadows within the ruby stirred, faintly glowing.

Then, before he could react, the originally plain brass seemed to suddenly be injected with some kind of life, the originally hard band instantly becoming soft, constantly extending tiny tendrils around Charlie's index finger, then slowly sinking into his flesh.

Charlie couldn't help but furrow his brow, pursing his lips, watching this terrifying scene, but he didn't immediately try to take it off.

After all, as a reward from the system, and with multiple experiences of cooperation, Charlie had reason to believe that it wouldn't harm him.

And the fact was just as he had expected, when all the tendrils on the ring had sunk into his flesh, followed by a slight stinging pain.

A touch of red flowed along the band into the ruby, and the ring, as if it had completed its recognition, quickly retracted the spreading tendrils back into the band, and once again became plain and unadorned.

“A blood oath?” Charlie's expression became strange.

Charlie had learned about this ancient alchemical technique when he was at Hogwarts, once accidentally finding a 16th-century alchemical human skin scroll while venturing into the restricted section.

At least that's what it said on it, and as for whether it was human skin, the young and vigorous Charlie didn't dwell on it too much at the time.

That book detailed a once extremely popular alchemical technique called [Blood Oath].

Grinding a person's skull into powder and incorporating it into an alchemical item, along with corresponding spells, could permanently link the alchemical item to its master until the master's death, at which point it could be解除 (jiěchú - released/cancelled).

In that crazy era when wizards were not bound by ethics and constraints, this technique was widely used throughout Europe.

However, with the passage of time and the upgrading and iteration of alchemical technology in the hands of generations of wizards.

The ways to establish connections with alchemical items have also become more stable and safe.

The blood oath alchemical technique has gradually been forgotten and eventually disappeared.

As for that alchemical human skin scroll, it was probably the only book that still retained this technique.

Charlie didn't expect that he would be able to see this alchemical technique, which had already been on the verge of extinction, on the ring given by the system today.

“Could it be that you come from the 16th century?”

Charlie muttered to himself, while trying to grasp the palm of the hand wearing the ring.

But there was no other feeling…

“Let me try…”

Charlie sat back in his seat, then closed his eyes and gently stroked the ruby on the ring, trying to activate it.

The result was somewhat beyond his expectations. When he slowly probed his magic into the ring, there was no obstruction or涩 (sè - astringency/unfamiliarity) like when other alchemical items were first contacted. Everything seemed to come naturally.

When Charlie opened his eyes again, he was holding the scroll recording magic and the new task blueprint in his hand wearing the ring.

“Excellent.” Charlie nodded, looking at the things in his hand.

Although Charlie didn't know whether this space-type magical item ring came from the wizarding world of the 16th century, or was a product of another world.

However, at least Charlie could be sure… this thing was definitely a good thing, even better than the scroll recording A-level magic.

With this thing, it wasn't just a matter of having an extra storage space for Charlie.

The characteristic of being able to collect and release things at will with his thoughts undoubtedly made its value far exceed that of ordinary space-type alchemical items.

As long as Charlie could touch it, he could directly pull it into the ring's space at the moment of contact… This alone could immediately generate countless wonderful ideas in his mind.

He believed that as long as he had some time, this ring would undoubtedly become his strongest life-saving artifact.

Even surpassing the windbreaker with the [Magic Resistance] characteristic that Charlie had been wearing as a system reward.

After playing with the ring with satisfaction for a while, Charlie finally remembered the other two things besides it.

He turned his head, glanced at the magic scroll quietly placed on the table, and reached out to pick it up.

Anyway, with this thing as the trump card, Charlie no longer had the anticipation he had imagined for the so-called A-level magic scroll, so… anything was fine.

Thinking this way, Charlie slowly opened the scroll, revealing the initial text.

“Protego Diabolica”