"How did you guys get back?"
When Dylan returned to the dorm, he was surprised to see Harry and Ron sitting on their bed, looking completely stunned. Dylan blinked, and a silent charm spread across the other side of the room, effectively separating Seamus and Neville. He then strode over to his own bed, gave himself a quick tidy-up with his wand, and slowly sat down.
"Are you guys done with detention? So early?"
Ron, looking dazed, rolled his eyes and replied, "What do you mean early? We just got back!"
Harry glanced at Dylan and asked, "Where did you go? Were you put in detention too?"
Ron quickly followed his gaze, but Dylan simply shook his head and said, "No, I just went dueling with the professors."
"Wha—?!" Ron exclaimed, his eyes wide.
Luckily, thanks to the silent charm Dylan had set up, Seamus and Neville weren't disturbed. Harry stared at Dylan in disbelief, "How did you end up dueling with the professors? What major blunder did you pull?"
Ron added, "I can't even imagine what you did to make the professors duel you!" He looked Dylan up and down and said, "But I didn't expect you'd be okay."
Dylan rolled his eyes. "You think I should've ended up battered and bruised from the professors, right?"
Ron naturally replied, "Isn't that how it should be?"
Dylan's lips twitched as he admitted, "Maybe… This duel was actually the professors' assessment of me for last year."
"Really? They actually gave you a one-on-one assessment?" Harry was taken aback.
"And what was the result? Don't tell me you actually beat the professors!" Ron pressed.
"Of course not—it ended in a tie, and the professors intentionally held back." Dylan shook his head.
But even that answer left them both utterly stunned.
"**A tie?!**" Ron gasped, his eyes practically popping out.
"I can't believe you dueled the professors and ended up tying with them?" Harry's eyes blinked in astonishment.
"Yeah," Dylan shrugged, "don't blink or you might miss it!" He then quipped, "What about you guys? Were you, like Malfoy, locked up in the Forbidden Forest for detention this time?"
At that, Ron immediately slumped, "No, I thought we'd be locked up in the Forbidden Forest."
Harry wore an exasperated look. "Yeah, but after dinner, Professor McGonagall told me that Lockhart took me away—you really have no idea what I went through these last few hours."
"Could it be that you got Lockhart's autograph on your book?" Dylan said offhand.
Harry glared, "How did you know?"
Dylan chuckled, "So that's it? It totally fits my opinion of Lockhart—he even milks others for his autograph!"
Harry shook his head, trying to erase the painful memory. "Not only did I have to get his autograph, I even had to write replies to his fans—doesn't he worry that my handwriting is too ugly and that his fans will lose respect for him?"
Harry sighed, "And I had to listen to him drone on about his so-called heroic deeds—it was torture. I never want to go back to detention again."
Ron sighed, "Compared to that, I feel like all I had to do was polish Hogwarts' trophies. Not so bad, right?" He tried to lift his arm, but it felt all weak. "—Not that great, either. I can barely feel my arm at all!"
Dylan felt a little sorry for them, but only a bit. After all, driving around in a magically modified car that his dad had tweaked, boldly storming into the Forbidden Forest, and causing such a huge mess without getting expelled—all because they're the destined protagonists—how could they boot the Chosen One out of school so early? Sure, there were plenty of reasons, but the fact remains: these two love to play around and stay out late. When you get punished, you just have to take it—what else can you do?
Dylan kicked off his shoes, grabbed his sleep robe—a custom piece he had modded for 100 Galleons—and got ready for bed. But then Harry piped up, "Speaking of which, while I was getting Lockhart's autograph, I stumbled upon something really weird!"
Ron turned his head, "What happened?"
"I heard a voice in his office—one that was really nasty and made me uncomfortable."
Harry replied, "But I noticed Lockhart didn't seem to hear it at all—he was too busy bragging about his illustrious past. Maybe he's just too wrapped up in himself."
Dylan lay down, barely keeping his eyes open, and Harry asked, "What do you think about that voice?"
Dylan, too drowsy to care—even after all the achievement rewards from dueling with professors—simply mumbled, "With such a vague description, I can't really have an opinion. Just go to sleep already—I'm off too. Good night."
As Dylan closed his eyes, two thoughts drifted through his mind before sleep took over:
- "I'm so busy I haven't even had time to try summoning my Patronus. Next time, if I get extra lessons with Old Dumbledore or one of the professors, maybe I can snag some guidance."
- "And I wonder if my half-broken Parseltongue, with the help of a common snake's soul, might let me develop a proper hiss like Harry's."
After all, the voice Harry heard in Lockhart's office was clearly that of a snake creature—and snake creatures aren't the same as ordinary snakes.
With that thought in mind, Dylan drifted off to sleep. 😴
Seeing Dylan's breathing steady out, Harry and Ron, not wanting to disturb him further, quickly changed, climbed into bed, and fell asleep.
It wasn't until the next morning that Dylan, for once, didn't wake up early. After all, his duel the previous night had drained his mental and magical energy, and even with all those bonuses, he needed a good sleep to recharge. After breakfast, Dylan strolled over to the library to read and, along the way, checked the achievements he'd unlocked last night.
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**[Achievement]: Enemies of Hogwarts (I)**
**[Description]: Evil as you are, you're bound to become an enemy of Hogwarts. Look—Professor McGonagall just challenged you to a duel!**
**[Unlock Requirement]: Professor McGonagall, using the school's power, challenges you to a duel!**
**[Achievement Reward]: Level-Max Beginner Spell +1**
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**[Achievement]: Enemies of Hogwarts (II)**
**[Description]: You Dark Lord, you've stirred up enough anger! Hogwarts' professors have all come after you in duels!**
**[Unlock Requirement]: Three professors have dueled with you!**
**[Achievement Reward]: Trait – Quick Meditation!**
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**[Achievement]: Defeat a Real Hogwarts Professor!**
**[Description]: You've grown so terrifyingly powerful that even professors aren't a match for you!**
**[Unlock Requirement]: Defeat a real professor (excluding the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor)!**
**[Achievement Reward]: Fifty Spells in a Row**
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Aside from these three, the other achievement rewards are just minor perks—like +100 Galleons or +1 in mental energy. But these three are pretty impressive achievements. Even if they don't come with flattering descriptions, Dylan was used to it. Even if they painted him as the ultimate, unforgivable villain, deep down he knew he wasn't—and that was enough.
"A level-max beginner spell, huh?" Dylan mused as he closed his eyes. His mind skillfully slipped into a chaotic realm reminiscent of a vast universe, with a not-so-bright star hanging overhead. At the mere nudge of his will, that star fell. When Dylan opened his eyes again, he saw himself holding his wand, with a noseless guy standing in front of him. With a flick of his wand, a spell shot at the man. In the next moment, the man's gloomy expression vanished, replaced by an uncontrollable, bizarrely exaggerated smile. But his nose-less face looked even more twisted—cheeks puffed up and eyes squinted into slits. His stiff body started swaying gently, his head bobbing from side to side, and his steps were light as if he were floating. Occasionally, he raised both hands while mumbling incoherently with a cheerful hum.
"That's bizarre…" Dylan muttered.
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**[Message]: Congratulations! You've unlocked the Level-Max Spell — Cheering Charm (Happy Spell)!**
"Are you sure this spell is the Cheering Charm?" Dylan asked. By then, he had regained his composure, and the noseless guy had vanished before his eyes. But recalling the strange expression and jerky movements the guy had after being hit by the spell made Dylan shudder. "Maybe only a noseless guy would react like that," he reasoned.
He then glanced at the second achievement reward—a trait, just like the "10-Spells in a Row" combo and pet ability control, part of his personal skill set.
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**[Quick Meditation]: Sit cross-legged, enter a meditative state, and your mental energy will recover at an extraordinary rate!**
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Hot off the press: the latest news is debuting on 69 Books!
After skimming the system panel's introduction, Dylan thought the effect of this trait was pretty average—nothing spectacular, but it did have its uses. In some critical moments, this trait might even work wonders. For instance, after a fierce fight, he could easily find a hiding spot, use a Shadow Ring to mask his presence, plop down on the ground, and begin meditating straight away (maybe even supplementing with a few potions). Once his mental energy was sufficiently restored, he'd be ready to battle for another 300 rounds! Overall, Dylan was fine with it.
When his eyes fell on the third achievement reward, a smile spread across his face.
"Fifty spells in a row? Does that mean I can just unleash fifty Avada Kedavras in an instant? The Killing Curse only covers about four meters, but if I can cast fifty of them at once, I'd essentially create my own deadly field!"
Dylan had already unlocked a trait that allowed him to cast spells in a ten-spell combo. With his refined spellcasting techniques, he realized that after a ten-spell combo, if he targeted ten people, the relentless pain of his heart-piercing curse would hit them all. Now, with fifty spells in one go, he could take down fifty people in a single burst! Sure, he could achieve a similar effect by repeating his ten-spell combo several times—like when he unleashed a hundred rounds of Unseen Blades on Professor Snape last night—but that method rapidly drains his mental energy. With the fifty-spell combo, he could cast all fifty spells at once, reducing casting time and conserving his energy for longer, more sustained battles.
"Now that I have fifty in a row, is a hundred in a row too far off?" he thought.
Later that night, Dylan planned to crawl into his pet-space briefcase and experiment on his little cuties 🐾—taking out fifty of them at once would significantly boost his kill count and speed up his spell refinement tasks.
After that, Dylan's schedule got even crazier—he was so busy he barely had time to stand still! He not only had to attend classes, but he also had to rapidly read through forbidden texts, return books to the library, and borrow new ones. On top of that, he made steady progress on his daily spell refinement tasks—after all, whether it was the Killing Curse, the Heart-Piercing Curse, or many other dark spells, each required him to hit a specific casting count. And as his level went up, the numbers became even more outrageous!
Meanwhile, he experimented with using the black flowers that sprouted from decaying spells to concoct potions that might sell like hotcakes. Even if he couldn't mass-produce them, brewing special potions just for himself would be worthwhile. As for his pet-space briefcase, he'd occasionally shell out some Galleons to unlock new abilities while continually upgrading its internal space.
This meant he had to regularly exchange letters with his parents—directing them on their next capital-harvesting move while urging them to stop living it up and start making him money. And that, on its own, was enough to give Dylan a headache. To make matters worse, Hagrid kept pestering him, always wanting him to sneak off into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night. Dylan couldn't always say no; he worried that if Hagrid didn't see Norberta for too long, he'd end up causing more trouble. With so much on his plate, Dylan simply didn't have time to figure out how to explain things if Beta's true identity ever got exposed. So sometimes, he had to just play along.
After all, sneaking into the Forbidden Forest at night with Norberta and Coal Ball to meet Hagrid meant they could chow down and swipe a bunch of Hagrid's goodies. That, in a way, eased the constant hustle of fetching enough food to satisfy Norberta's ever-growing appetite. At most, Dylan would hand some Galleons to Hagrid so he could stock up on food for a while; then, every so often, Dylan would swing by to pick it up—giving Hagrid a chance to see the ever-growing little fire-dragon.
And every time Dylan ventured into the Forbidden Forest, it wasn't just to hang out with Hagrid in the thickets. He was running low on unicorn blood and planned to track down the unicorn he'd rescued last time to ask for a little more—except the creature had been nowhere to be found lately. That only reinforced his belief that the unicorn must have run off! He never expected a unicorn to be so untrustworthy; it's not like he was asking for a bit of blood—he wasn't going to kill it, after all!
"So stingy," he muttered.
But it wasn't a huge loss—after all, he already had a shadow creature and even a dragon. Recently, Dylan had roamed the Forbidden Forest a few times and managed to round up some other magical creatures as well. Instead of killing them, he brought them into his pet-space briefcase so he could slowly harvest their unique properties over time.
It must be said: while commercial activity in England was gradually developing, transactions were still riddled with restrictions. Dylan wasn't keen on experimenting solely on cockroaches—and since magical creatures weren't as prolific as cockroaches, killing them outright would be such a waste. Lately, he'd only been able to experiment on cockroaches or spiders, and even the black flowers that grew from their decayed spells were far too tiny for his needs. Now, he desperately needed larger creatures in ample numbers to substitute for cockroaches.
For that, he'd thought about asking Hagrid to fetch some, but that would attract too much attention and hassle—and, as he'd already noted, all of England's offline commercial transactions were just too slow. And it wasn't just the Muggle world; even in the wizarding world, despite magic, things were even more problematic! Firstly, sourcing goods was tough; then, you had to be cautious not to get swindled; and even if you managed a purchase, the delivery process was a total headache—slow and drawn-out. Dylan was forced to consider whether to spend extra time venturing into the Forbidden Forest himself to capture some eight-eyed giants—after all, those creatures were plentiful and reproduced quite well.
"Thank goodness, this year there's an even more perfect snake creature."