Alex finally paused his work, tilting his head slightly. His lips curled into a mog smile. “Ah, someoh brains. Yes, we met before, Torquil. And as for my goal…” He gestured toward the restrained group with a casual wave of his hand. “Well, let’s just say you’ve been very generous to one of my friends, Charles, haven’t you?”

  Torquil narrowed his eyes. “So this is about revenge, is it?”

  “Revenge?” Alex let out a dry ugh. “If this was just about revenge, you’d all be dead a huimes over by now. No, no. I have much more practical reasons for keeping you alive.” His voice turned icy, his grin sharp. “On one hand, I have a few burning questions that need answers. Oher, I find myself a little short on supplies. So, gratutions—you’re now part of my… iory.”

  The room fell silent, the implications of Alex’s words hanging heavy in the air. The Death Eaters exged uneasy gheir bravado faltering. Torquil, unwilling to give in, asked cautiously, “What do you want to know?”

  Alex chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh, Torquil, do you really think you stall for time? You’ve been quietly trying to gather yice I walked in. Go ahead, try casting something. I’ll even t it as a win for you if you ma.” His tone was light, but his eyes were sharp, catg every subtle twitovement.

  Torquil’s lips twitched in frustration. His attempt at gathering magic had beehrough. Realizing he had no other option, he began ting under his breath, hoping to catch Alex off guard. At the same time, Goyle and Crabbe began muttering spells of their own, their faces twisted with tration.

  But Alex moved faster than any of them could anticipate. In one swift motion, he lunged forward, his fists grasping the hammer. He struck each of them with a bam! The blows nding hard enough to snap their heads back. The sudden, overwhelming pain disrupted their fragile tration, and the magic they had painstakingly gathered dissipated like smoke. “A hammer is faster than any spell within two meters,” Alex said coldly, standing over them. “Your parents aught you that? What a shame.”

  Without wasting another sed, Alex waved his wand, sealing their mouths with a sileng spell. He stepped back, turning his attention to the tools and equipment he had prepared earlier. “Now, let’s see what treasures you’ve been hiding,” he muttered to himself, patting down each of them with ical efficy. The Death Eaters gred at him with a mixture of fear and hatred, but the s held them firmly in pce.

  From Torquil’s pockets, Alex retrieved a small leather pouch. A quispe revealed it was ented with an Uable Extension Charm. Inside, he found over 600 Galleons, several silver tris, a stack of letters, and other odds and ends. He pocketed everything without hesitation, then turo face his captives.

  “That’s all?” he scoffed, holding up the pouch. “You Death Eaters pride yourselves on your wealth and power, but this… this is pathetic.” He g Torquil and delivered another punch food measure. “Holy, I’m embarrassed for you.”

  Torquil bared his teeth, gritting them in pain after Alex’s punch ected with brutal force. Despite this, his gre remained fierce, his eyes filled with venomous defiance. Alex seemed indifferent, croug down to remove the spell sealing Torquil’s mouth. He offered a calm smile as he spoke, his tone almost gentle. “, I’ll borrow your body for a little experiment. Don’t worry—I’ll try to be gentle and not break you.”

  ‘I said I’ll try,’ Alex thought with a hint of dry humor, keeping the seo himself.

  He moved to the nearby tool table and picked up an unusual object: a loal rod with a dial attached at the top, resembling a European-style kit thermometer. As he ied it, Alex murmured to himself, “First, let’s test this mana-measuring instrument. The earlier external tests weren’t accurate enough to measure a wizard’s mana reserve. Looks like we’ll o try something… more direct.”

  Torquil, pinned helplessly on the ground, watched Alex approach with the mysterious tool in hand. A cold shiver ran down his spine, his instincts screaming danger. Panic flickered in his eyes as he stammered, “W-what are you doing? Don’t e any closer! I’m the sed heir of the Travers family! You’ll regret this if—”

  Before Torquil could finish his threat, Alex drove the metal rod into his chest with a chilling thunk. Blood oozed from the wound, spreading across his robes. Alex quickly muttered a spell, causing the wound to seal tightly, stopping the bleeding.

  The sudden and brutal act left the onlookers frozen in shock. Their expressied from disbelief to ht horror. None of them had expected Alex to go this far, and for a moment, the room was silent save for the quiet drip of blood hitting the floor.

  Alex, seemingly oblivious to their reas, leaned over the device, his focus entirely on the dial. “Strange,” he muttered, frowning. “No response. With the runes for ‘Blood Sensing,’ ‘Iy,’ ‘Monit,’ and the rest, it should work. Could the sensitivity coeffit be too high?”

  He pulled the rod out of Torquil’s chest without hesitation, made a few adjustments, and plu ba—this time at a slightly different angle. Blood began to pool again, and Alex quickly sealed the new wound with another spell. “My apologies,” Alex said casually. “I think I ied it in the wrong dire earlier. But don’t worry—I’ll fix you up once we’re done.”

  “YOU MONSTER!” Torquil roared, his voice thick with pain. “Just kill me already! What are you even doing to me?!”

  His body twisted and thrashed in defiance, but Alex’s Obstacle Curse held him firmly against the ground. His screams of agony echoed through the room, sending shivers down the spines of everyog. Unbothered by the chaos, Alex tinued his work, studying the instrument. “Hmm, the scale pointer is stabilizing. ient like before. Looks like we’re getting somewhere.”

  Then, gng down at Torquil, Alex asked in an eerily calm voice, “How do you feel? Besides the obvious pain, of course.”

  Torquil’s response was a stream of curses, apanied by guttural screams that scratched against the ears of everyone nearby. Alex houghtfully, jotting down notes on a clipboard. “Iing. No adverse reas to the runes, aal coherence remains intact. So far, measuring mana directly through blood seems viable.”

  Alex checked the reading on the instrument and recorded it carefully. He’d decided to measure mana reserves in ‘Lum,’ a unit based on the amount of magieeded to cast a single ‘Lumos’ spell. It was the simplest a taxing spell avaible, making it an ideal benchmark. Torquil’s current reading was 637 Lum, a mana reserve strong enough to cast over 200 standard attack spells. For parison, it was nearly four times the mana reserve of an average third-year wizard. “Impressive,” Alex murmured, gng back at Torquil. “Your mana reserve is det. Now, let’s see how emotional fluctuations affect the readings.”