Golden Bell Rings in Jade Void Palace, a Disciple of the Chan Sect Thereafter

At the sight of this information, Rhine's heart gave a sudden leap.

When he had received the Hogwarts acceptance letter—what the system called the qualification to join the Chan Sect—the system had begun binding to him.

Now that he had officially arrived at Hogwarts, the system could upgrade because of it?

This trip to Hogwarts had truly been the right choice. Otherwise, he would have missed out on a tremendous opportunity.

At the same time, Rhine felt a surge of anticipation as he looked over the new functions revealed by the upgraded system.

"The Talent Fusion function has come at just the right time."

"I have more and more miscellaneous talents now. Some are quite useful, some are completely useless, and some are duplicates."

"Once the Talent Fusion function unlocks, perhaps those useless or duplicate talents can be put to other uses."

The thought made Rhine somewhat impatient.

If there had not been so many people around, he would have wanted to ride the Owl Flying Sword straight to Hogwarts Castle.

But for now, he still had to follow the usual procedure.

When first-years traveled to Hogwarts for the first time, they still had to take the route across the Black Lake. By their second year, they would not need to.

Rhine had once found it strange. Why did new students not take the same route as the older ones?

Why make a group of young wizards go through so much trouble and waste so much time?

However, he had found the reason in the History of Magic textbook.

When the four founders had established Hogwarts, their original intention had been to shelter young wizards from the increasingly frenzied witch hunts of that era.

Back then, Hogwarts had not been like it was now, accessible only through this hidden route.

For that very reason, the four founders had cast powerful protective charms along this path.

Any student who entered Hogwarts by this route would receive protection throughout the grounds, greatly reducing the chance of accidents.

That protective charm remained effective even today. Thus, young wizards still had to retrace the old path to school once in order to receive the founders' protection.

This was also why Hogwarts was known as the safest place in the wizarding world.

It was not merely because Dumbledore was here, but because of the protective magic that had endured here through generations.

Otherwise, during the second school year in the original story, how could all those students unlucky enough to encounter the Basilisk have been so fortunate? How could every one of them have happened not to look directly into its eyes and thereby escaped immediate death?

One person being lucky was understandable, but so many people being lucky made no sense at all.

And some Hogwarts classes were absurdly dangerous, yet over all these years, there had been cases of lost hands and feet, but Rhine had never heard of anyone actually dying.

All of that was due to the magical protection left along this route. As long as students were not as unlucky as Moaning Myrtle, or did not go looking for death themselves, their safety within Hogwarts was still assured.

Thoughts raced through Rhine's mind, but his movements did not stop. He led Hermione, Harry, and Ron onto an empty little boat.

Soon, the boat glided across the mirror-smooth lake.

Everyone was silent as they stared at the enormous castle towering into the clouds.

As they approached the cliff where the castle stood, it seemed to loom directly above their heads.

"Duck!"

Following Hagrid's classic shout from the original story, they passed beneath the curtain of ivy covering the cliff, then through a dark tunnel beneath the castle, past the underground harbor, and finally climbed onto a patch of ground strewn with gravel and small pebbles.

The long voyage had left the young wizards terrified.

After all, the Black Lake was bottomless. Looking into it inevitably gave one the feeling that countless eyes were watching from below.

Once they disembarked, the young wizards all scrambled to get away from the edge of the Black Lake.

Only Rhine showed an unusual expression, even a trace of delight. He turned back and gave the Black Lake a reluctant glance.

Just then, new information had appeared on the system screen.

Mount Kunlun, where Jade Void Palace is located, is the ancestor of all mountains and the origin of dragon veins. As you pass a great lake at its foot, you discover that dragons dwell within its waters and have cultivated a Dragon Palace beneath the lake.

The dragon race has always possessed many treasures and an ancient heritage. They govern the gathering of clouds and rain. Even after the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, by the time of Journey to the West, dragons still filled rivers, lakes, and seas.

Forging ties with the Lord of the Dragon Palace beneath this lake will be greatly beneficial to you.

Reach Acquaintance with the Lord of the Dragon Palace to obtain the talent—Dragon's Spirit. Dragons command clouds and rain and govern all waterways under heaven, allowing them to draw spiritual energy from water veins. With this talent, you may obtain spiritual energy in places where water veins are abundant. When combined with Feast on Wind and Drink Dew and Essence of Sun and Moon, its effects will be even more pronounced.

Reach Close Friendship with the Lord of the Dragon Palace to obtain the talent—Control Water at Will. Manipulating water will become your instinct, and ordinary water-based spells may be cast with effortless ease.

Reach Life-and-Death Friendship with the Lord of the Dragon Palace to obtain the divine ability—Summon Wind and Rain. Alter the heavens and command wind and rain. With a single thought, sweet rain may bless all things; with another, torrential rain may pour down. It is a common but formidable divine ability.

Rhine took a deep breath.

The beings beneath the Black Lake whom the system had identified as dragons were probably the merpeople from the original story.

Building connections with merpeople had benefits too. This was truly an unexpected delight.

Never mind the later rewards. The reward for merely reaching Acquaintance was already something Rhine was determined to obtain.

Dragon's Spirit, which allowed him to draw spiritual energy from water veins, was exactly the talent Rhine desperately lacked!

"Looks like I'll have to visit the Black Lake sometime."

But at this moment, the most important thing for Rhine was still attending the Sorting Ceremony and completing the system upgrade.

Just then, Hagrid had already led them to the castle gates. He raised a huge fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

Rhine's heart skipped a beat.

"Does that count as the golden bell ringing?"

But no prompt appeared on the system screen, so Rhine could only follow the others farther inside.

Next came Professor McGonagall's introduction, the appearance of the ghosts, and one classic scene after another from the original story.

Until the young wizards entered the Great Hall in a single file, and the Sorting Hat appeared and finished singing a song it had made up because it had nothing better to do.

The other young wizards were both eager and nervous, while Rhine clenched his hand slightly.

But he was not nervous about the sorting. Rather, they had clearly already entered Hogwarts Castle, so why had the system still not given a prompt?

Hagrid knocking on the door did not count as the golden bell? Professor McGonagall's classic speech did not count either? Even the Sorting Hat singing did not count?

Rhine had originally thought the Sorting Hat was the golden bell in the system's judgment, yet after it finished singing, the system still had not reacted.

Then what exactly counted as the golden bell ringing?

Could the system have bugged out again?

Just as Rhine's heart slowly sank and he prepared himself for the possibility that something had gone wrong with the system, Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a roll of parchment in her hand.

"Whenever I call a name, that person will put on the hat, sit on the stool, and await sorting."

"Hannah Abbott!"

The instant that name rang out, Rhine seemed to hear a clear bell chime beside his ear.

The system screen abruptly refreshed.

The golden bell rings within Jade Void Palace; from this day forth, you are a disciple of the Chan Sect. Congratulations, Host, on formally entering the Chan Sect!