School Selection Begins! Ethan's New Card

The library.

"Blow them all away with explosions!" Ron suggested.

"No! That would only anger them. We should use a Sleeping Charm—oh! I'm sure I saw one somewhere!"

Hermione, the top student, retorted as she rapidly flipped through the pages.

"Uh... could we just ride Flying Broomsticks over them?" Harry racked his brains.

"No items may be used during the competition, Harry," Ethan said gently. "This tests overall academic ability, not Quidditch."

"And you can't use a Summoning Charm either."

"Because the actual competition will take place in a primeval forest. Unless the monkeys suddenly realize the importance of hygiene, there won't be a broom for you to summon."

Of course, Flying Broomsticks were different from ordinary brooms used for sweeping.

"Oh, oh..."

Harry answered blankly, utterly confused by that string of long, complicated sentences.

Ever since they learned that Ethan was preparing for the School Selection, the Three Little Ones had volunteered to gather around him and help him come up with ideas.

Whenever they had free time, they would hole up in the library together, searching for ways to deal with Giant Purple Toads.

"Look, Ethan!"

Hermione excitedly pushed the book over and pointed at a particularly complicated spell.

"It explains a powerful Sleeping Charm here. You can cast it together with the other students and put all the toads to sleep."

"That's a good idea."

Ethan looked at the tongue-twisting spell and said seriously, "but there's one small problem."

"Although the School Selection is done in teams of five, I'm afraid no one will help me."

Hermione froze and blurted out, "Why? Isn't this supposed to be a competition of teamwork?"

She had looked it up.

Although the Secret Realm Tracking Challenge had no explicit requirements for team formation, contestants usually formed teams by school, helping one another and ultimately sharing the glory together.

That was why the School Selection also encouraged students to cooperate more.

The professors would even specifically assess whether the students worked well together.

How could no one be willing to help Ethan?

Ethan smiled. "Perhaps, in everyone else's eyes, I'm the one destined to be eliminated."

So there was no need to help him.

"..."

Hermione was stunned.

Her clever little mind had only ever been concerned with earning higher scores. She had never considered such social complexities.

Two seconds later, she finally understood.

Lowering her head in embarrassment, she hid her awkwardness by noisily flipping through the book and said softly, "L-look at this description of Giant Purple Toads!"

"They are very quiet when undisturbed, but once startled, they will attack in groups and won't stop until they have wiped out the intruders..."

"Normally, they only pursue intruders. But once angered and driven into a berserk state, the entire colony will attack everything around them indiscriminately. They're extremely dangerous..."

Ethan listened to the explanation he already knew by heart.

Resting his chin on his hand, he let his thoughts wander.

For now, his plan was to use a Portal to quickly cross the outer perimeter and enter the cave.

But there were toads guarding the cave as well, protecting their king—a massive toad five or six meters tall.

Once the king was injured, all the toads would immediately go berserk.

It was absolutely not something to provoke, rather like the final boss of a dungeon.

The objective of the assessment was to take an item you considered the most precious from the cave nest.

That also involved the matter of who got there first.

Toads liked shiny things.

Those who entered first could pick first, while those who came later would probably only be able to choose from bent silver soup spoons and shattered ceramic bowls.

As long as they successfully obtained a valuable treasure, they could be directly selected.

The rest would have to be decided based on the professors' evaluations.

"I absolutely can't end up being evaluated, because the professors definitely won't choose a first-year like me."

Ethan pondered.

"If I want to be selected, I need to obtain something valuable. I need to get into the cave first... a Portal? This plan feels pretty rough..."

Just then, Ethan heard Harry mutter:

"If only we could know directly where the treasure is... Then Ethan could use a Portal right away, reach out and take the treasure without even entering the nest."

Ethan smiled.

He opened his mouth, about to tell Harry that his Portal had to be set within thirty meters of his line of sight.

But then—

A flash of inspiration streaked through his Brain like lightning, instantly piercing the darkness of his thoughts!

Bang!

Ethan abruptly shot to his feet, sending his chair crashing backward with a heavy thud.

The Three Little Ones were all startled. They shrank back in unison, staring at Ethan in alarm.

"That's right... Why hadn't I thought of that before?"

Ethan stared unfocused into midair, muttering to himself.

"Within my field of vision... within my field of vision... Since my eyeballs can't leave my body and move around independently..."

"Then why not create another field of vision?!"

What he needed was a new painting, a new card!

One that would remove the limitations of his Portal card!

Inspiration had struck!!

Ethan whipped his head around.

His pupils dilated, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.

His Cobalt Blue eyes fixed directly on Harry as he said:

"Harry, you're an absolute genius!"

"..."

Harry pressed his entire back against the chair, small, pitiful, and helpless.

Facing Ethan, who was practically Gargamel and nearly nose-to-nose with him, Harry forced a smile.

Bro, bro, no...

"Who is making such a racket in the library?!"

Madam Pince swept in furiously, and for the first time, Harry felt that her arrival was perfectly timed.

Unfortunately, the moment Madam Pince saw Ethan, the anger on her face immediately softened as she asked with concern:

"Oh, Mr. Vincent? Are you all right? Nothing happened, did it?"

"I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, Madam Pince."

Ethan turned toward her, wearing an impeccably polite smile.

"That's good, that's good~"

The Three Little Ones watched in astonishment as a smile actually appeared on Madam Pince's dinosaur-like face.

The next second, Madam Pince turned and glared at Ron. "If you don't read properly, get out!"

"..."

Ron hurriedly grabbed a book and lowered his head in aggrieved silence.

Sniff.

After Madam Pince left, Ethan turned back, his eyes sparkling as he rapidly gave instructions:

"Come on, my friends! Help me look for spells that can expand one's field of vision!"

"It's time to give this world a little shock!"

Though the Three Little Ones didn't understand what expanding one's field of vision had to do with the world.

That didn't stop them from getting excited as well.

Book after book was brought over, spell after spell and principle after principle recorded.

For a while, the only sounds at the table were the rustle of turning pages and the scratch of quills gliding across parchment.

Outside the window, leaves swayed softly.

The cold wind carried fresh air as it continuously tapped against the glass.

Etching a beautiful, irreproducible frost pattern around the silhouettes of the four.

Soon, it was the day of the tryouts.

Since the competition was at ten at night, during curfew hours, there were no spectators.

Only the contestants and the professors were present.

Wrapped in thick robes, they stood by the rippling cliffs of the Black Lake.

Ethan stared at the brand-new rectangular card in his hand, his gaze glued to it in fascination. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it.

With his head lowered, he walked over the rough pebbles along the lakeshore.

Then, a voice rang out:

"Well, well! Look who's here?"

Ethan stopped and slowly raised his gaze.

He saw senior Sean Max, who had remained resentful ever since Ethan refused to join the Club.

With his arms folded, Sean looked down at him disdainfully, as though he were about to break into an energetic dance at any moment.

Ethan spoke at the exact same time as Sean:

"Isn't this the famous artist, Ethan Vincent? Coming to the tryouts despite knowing your limits—are you here to make everyone laugh?"

Their voices overlapped.

Word for word.

"Sorry, I overheard you rehearsing in the Common Room tonight."

"You really ought to work on your lines. They have no bite at all."

Ethan offered sincerely.

Sean: "..."

Sean's face instantly turned red.

Even in the night, it was clearly visible.

"Ethan Vincent, you—Aaargh!!"

Sean trembled all over in humiliation, as if he had suffered the ultimate insult.

He glared at Ethan through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing with fury.

He would definitely make this sharp-tongued brat utterly embarrass himself during the tryouts!

He would show this brat what true Ravenclaw strength was!