Two Golden Rewards!
Sean's eyes were shining; this must be the first time he'd been so lucky, getting two gold items in just fifty draws!
You should know that on his first try, he only got one gold item after more than 110 draws.
On the stage Dumbledore was addressing the new students. "... To become a powerful wizard, you need to be grounded, you need to proceed step by step. The beauty of magic lies in exploration; never think that this magical realm can be reached overnight..."
Newt Scamander Set (Gold): Increases Magical Creature Affinity by 2, grants the ability [Beast Speaker], grants the ability [Suitcase Dweller], makes it easier to gain favor with Scamander descendants, and makes it easier to gain favor with Kowalski descendants.
[Beast Speaker]: You can have basic communication with Magical Creatures. The level of communication depends on the Magical Creatures's intelligence.
[Suitcase Dweller]: Your items that have been enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm will automatically expand their space when you encounter new Magical Creatures and bring them into your little world.
Sybill Trelawney's Card (Gold): A one-time consumable. To use it, raise both hands above your head and chant "I am the greatest Divination!" You will receive an absolutely accurate and unchangeable Divination of the future.
A double yolk... Sean had lost all interest in what Dumbledore was saying.
Professor Scamander's set bonus is powerful; the two points of Magical Creature Affinity alone are considerable. Also, for the first time, one of Sean's talents surpassed ten points, reaching eleven.
[Beast Speaker] is obviously a talent used for synergy. Sean guesses that this ability should be one of the talents that Professor Scamander possesses. His proficiency is definitely not as good as the other party's, but when combined with his own eleven points of talent, the effect will definitely be outstanding.
[Suitcase Dweller] is also a useful ability. Sean was just worried about who to ask to help expand the space inside the ring, but now he doesn't have to worry about that anymore.
The only downside is that he might actually open a zoo.
As for the other two effects in the set, the first one, gaining the favor of the Scamander descendant, is quite normal. Sean knows that Professor Scamander's grandson, Rolf Scamander, is currently studying in Hufflepuff and is a year ahead of Sean.
Sean had little recollection of the name Kowalski.
If Newt is involved, perhaps it's through his Muggle friend Jacob?
Sean came to this conclusion.
Anyway, this is a good thing.
The second golden item, Sybill Krelloni's card, is somewhat fantastical.
A Divination with exaggerated actions and embarrassing lines, a Divination for the future that is absolutely accurate and cannot be changed.
A disposable consumable with extremely powerful effects.
Having spent two years in the Wizarding World and encountered various wizards, Sean knew firsthand how difficult it was to perform an accurate Divination, and the description of "unchangeable" intrigued Sean greatly.
The future should always be changing along with the present; the phrase "unchanging" is extremely rare even in the idealistic wizarding magic system.
Sean had a feeling that if Trelawney's card was used properly, there would be a lot of room for maneuver.
Of course, Sean also faces the question of how to Divination the content he wants to Divination.
What if he uses this card and it only Divination what kind of breakfast Hogwarts will serve the next day...?
It seems I can't give up the Divination. I need more Divination knowledge to complement this card... Sean made a decision: he'll go find Professor McGonagall later to change the schedule.
He opened the system panel and checked his current status.
Name: Sean Wallerup (Muggle Family background, pedigree unknown)
Magical Items: Grindelwald's Twig Wand (Purple), Hand of Glory (Purple), No-Wash Wool Socks (Special), Self-Securing Collar Pin (Special), High-Precision Sneakoscope (Purple), Ancient One's Sigh (Gold) (Cooldown Complete), Hermione Granger's Echo (Gold) (Cooldown Complete), The Black Sleeper (Gold) (Cooldown Complete), Sybill Trelawney's Card (Gold)...
Charms Talent: 8 (You have already found the right path to becoming a powerful wizard)
Transfiguration Talent: 10 (Everything in the world can be transformed; you will become an unprecedented master of Transfiguration!)
Potions Talent: 2 (When Brewing Potions, your primary goal is singular: to survive)
Magical Creature Affinity: 10+1 (A born druid—don't you really want to consider opening a zoo?)
Ancient Runes Talent: 2 (Fortunately, your IQ is high enough to be interviewed by a reporter who's here to see why you're so stupid.)
Dark Arts Talent: 10 (Ha! If you weren't surrounded by a hundred Dementor in Azkaban, the entire Ministry of Magic should resign!)
Sean raised an eyebrow. The Magical Creature Affinity number isn't represented by 11, but by 10+1. Does that mean that a normal wizard's highest talent is 10 points, and the +1 is probably a plus version of the highest talent?
Moreover, the comments have changed, becoming more casual and relaxed, as if saying that opening a Magical Creatures zoo is a very simple thing.
Dave, the Swooping Evil in Sean's arms, also gave his feedback. "Sean, you suddenly smell even better, the kind of good that's almost intoxicating..."
Of course, putting aside the changes, Sean's talent is still as ridiculously unbalanced as before. His Potions Talent is still only two-tenths. He is able to survive in Potions and get good grades in exams entirely thanks to Hermione's help and the notebook that Snape gave him before.
Needless to say, the Ancient Runes had these two talent points, which were added by the Dumbledore's Starter Set he had drawn before. The original huge 0 points were a headache to look at - a physical headache.
Sean gets a headache and a throbbing pain whenever he stares at Ancient Runes textbook for a while...
Below the inventory and talent list is a densely packed list of spells.
Sean has now mastered a considerable number of spells, not only the commonly used ones such as the Wand-Lighting Charm, Repairing Charm, Expelliarmus, and Stunning Spell, but also many spells that students never learn before graduation. Most of these were taught to him by Grindelwald, and a small portion were found in the spellbook in the Room of Requirement.
Most of the commonly used spells have already reached the final stage of Level 1 proficiency. Based on Sean's training intensity, he should be able to raise most of the commonly used spells to Level 2 proficiency in another week to ten days at most. That means that Silent Casting will become the norm for Sean when casting spells.
Hogwarts students typically begin learning Silent Casting in their fifth year, and many can only Silent Casting by graduation. However, Sean reached this level in just over two years.
The system panel gave Sean a shortcut to rapid progress—he didn't need to practice Silent Casting extra; he only needed to reach level two in Spell Proficiency to master it on his own.
Of course, talent and hard work are also indispensable. After all, the way to improve proficiency is through a lot of tedious practice. In the two years that Sean has been in the Wizarding World, apart from holidays when he can't use his wand, he has basically spent his weekends studying with Hermione.
But it feels so good to be seeing the results of my learning now...
Then, the smile on Sean's face quickly vanished.
Divine Fire Charm (Ancient Magic) Lv0: Proficiency 680/20000
Freezing Charm (Ancient Magic) Lv0: Proficiency 660/20000
Howling Earth Charm (Ancient Magic) Lv0: Proficiency 480/20000
Cloud Binding Charm (Ancient Magic) Lv0: Proficiency 530/20000
A row of Ancient Spell stood stiffly at the end, displaying its abrupt proficiency to its master while constantly reminding him—look at your pitiful Ancient Runes Talent.
Sean sighed silently. The Divine Fire Charm and the Freezing Charm came from demonstrations by Dumbledore and Grindelwald when they were young, while the later Howling Earth Charm, Cloud Binding Charm, and other spells came from demonstrations in the Slytherin Memory Fragments.
He'd had the spells for almost a year, each with a proficiency cap of 20,000, yet he couldn't get a single spell's proficiency above 1,000...
It wasn't that Sean was being lazy and not practicing; it was that he simply couldn't practice. To this day, he still couldn't cast an Ancient Magic completely on his own.
The common occurrence during practice is failing at the stage of constructing runes. Often, after practicing for an entire afternoon, the proficiency level only increases by a pitiful twenty or thirty points.
This also made Sean realize that in the idealistic magic system, the two points of Ancient Runes Talent do not support the idea that "diligence can make up for lack of talent".
On the train to Hogwarts, Hermione, who had been self-studying for a while, was already able to construct magic using an ancient rune—the kind that relied entirely on her own magic.
We need to find a way to solve this...
The welcoming ceremony ended along with Sean's thoughts. Amid the exclamations of the new students, various delicious foods appeared on golden platters on the long table, and everyone feasted on them.
Hogwarts remains Hogwarts; it hasn't changed. However, the atmosphere in Newmontgard, thousands of miles away, is perhaps less relaxed. The Wizarding United Guard's investigation team and the task force tasked with capturing Grindelwald are still active within the castle.
The arrest warrant for Grindelwald was still posted in every corner of the world, but after a summer of work, the major event that shocked the entire Wizarding World seemed to have calmed down all at once.
Various newspapers and weekly magazines constantly publicized Grindelwald's horror and evil, but no news of this Dark Lord who burned Paris twice and burned a large number of Pure-blood families to death was released.
There were no horrific events, no terrible retaliations; Grindelwald seemed to have vanished without a trace—at least the British Ministry of Magic had taken no further action beyond its resident arrest squad, and Hogwarts rarely spoke of the wizard anymore.
The old man who defeated Grindelwald on that Paris Night was sitting at the long table in the classroom, chatting and smiling with the professors.
Sean, perhaps the only one who knew the truth, looked up and sized up Dumbledore. He forked a piece of steak and put it in his mouth to keep his doubts from popping out.
What exactly are these two old men plotting...?
After the dinner party ended, Dumbledore gave some instructions as he always had. Then, the new students, led by their Prefect, headed to their respective house Common Room, while the other students, having eaten and drunk their fill, walked in groups toward their dormitories.
Sean tried to strike up a conversation with Dumbledore, but the man continued to avoid him, disappearing from sight around the corner.
Professor McGonagall came up from behind. "Mr. Wallop, it's getting late. You should go back to your dorm now."
"Oh, Professor," Sean greeted politely, "I was just looking for you."
"Is there something you need?" Professor McGonagall didn't seem so stern; ever since the "Voldemort parasite" incident in Newmontgard, she had always been very kind to Sean.
Of course, Professor McGonagall always regretted that Sean was not a student of Gryffindor.
"Oh, I see. I've thought about it again, and I'd like to add an elective course in Divination."
"Changed your mind? I talked to you about this before. Didn't you think the Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes were enough?"
"I just think it's worth learning Divination," Sean said.
Professor McGonagall glanced at him and said, "Alright, I'll change your schedule."
"Thank you very much, Professor McGonagall. Good night and sweet dreams."
However, Professor McGonagall called out to Sean, who had just finished greeting her and turned around. "Mr. Wallop."
"Yes, Professor."
"How far have you gotten with your Transfiguration self-study since fourth grade?"
"Well..." Sean recalled his learning progress, "I've already finished learning most of the content on my own, and I'm currently in the stage of improving my proficiency."
In fact, Sean had already learned quite a bit. His ten points of Transfiguration Talent, coupled with a long period of practice, and the previous teachings from Grindelwald, had helped him grasp many key points.
Currently, Sean can confidently say that he has no problem with the fourth-grade material, and his proficiency in some Transfiguration even surpasses that of older students.
Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses, gestured for Sean to take out his wand, and said, "Summon a small vertebrate."
Sean was a little confused, but he still waved his wand. With a "pop," a shiny ferret fell to the ground.
Professor McGonagall looked at Sean: "Small mammals are more difficult to Transfiguration; this is fifth-grade material."
"Huh?" Sean scratched his head. He had just summoned it casually. So Professor McGonagall wanted to test his Transfiguration skills?
"Try Cross-Species Transfiguration."
"Okay." Sean nodded.
He stared intently at the ferret, then waved his wand.
The ferret's fur began to separate into patches, becoming stiff, and its four adorable little paws extended outwards.
With the protrusion of its scales, the ferret successfully transformed into a small crocodile.
Sean pressed down on the crocodile's head and pried open its mouth to take a look. He sighed with some regret, "It's still a ferret's teeth, they haven't gotten any thicker..."
Professor McGonagall stood there, stunned.