Freedom, Madness, and Chocolate

In a solitary cell on the outskirts of the ancient castle.

Dewey toyed with his fingers.

[User: Dewey Jones (Alias)

Learned Cards:

[Levicorpus (Level 1)] (Blue Rare)

[Protego (Level 1)] (White Common) *4

[Stupefy (Level 1)] (White Common) *6

[Alohomora (Level 1)] (White Common) *17

[Apparate (Level 1)] (Purple Epic)

[Reparo (Level 1)] (White Common) *3

[Impedimenta (Level 1)] (White Common) *5

[Wingardium Leviosa (Level 1)] (White Common) *18

[Avada Kedavra (Level 1)] (Purple Epic)

[Crucio (Level 1)] (Purple Epic)

[Incarcerous (Level 1)] (Blue Rare)

[Petrificus Totalus (Level 1)] (Blue Rare)

[Animagus (Special Card)]]

Title: None

Magic Power: 10

Magic Essence: 0

Duel Points: 7

He had been tossed into the room and locked away without a second thought.

An Auror walked over and threw a piece of chocolate in front of Dewey with an expression of disgust.

The bigwigs at the Ministry of Magic were kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see these prisoners look too miserable.

Wasting chocolate on scum like this put the Auror in a very foul mood.

The Auror grumbled to himself, and before leaving, he brandished his wand to solemnly threaten Dewey, "If you dare to make a scene right now, I'll have the Dementors pay you a special visit, kid."

The Auror pointed his apple wood and unicorn hair wand at Dewey as he spoke.

Dewey ignored the Auror, nor did he care about the man's disgust.

He picked the chocolate up from the dirt and shoved it into his mouth.

In an instant, sweetness and a hint of bitterness flooded his mouth, bringing him immense satisfaction.

He could even smell the fragrance of the chocolate.

Squinting his eyes in intoxication, Dewey didn't think about anything at all.

He only wanted to hold onto this moment of bliss.

Only now did he feel like he had come back to life.

This was the most wonderful taste.

This was the taste of being alive.

"I'm afraid I'll turn into an old honey-bee, but what does it matter? Sugar, what a marvelous thing it is."

He let out a comfortable groan, slumped onto the floor, and began to convert his Duel Points.

He converted all his Duel Points into Magic Power.

Magic Power: 80.

Looking at this Magic Power, Dewey couldn't help but shed tears.

He covered his face with his hands, weeping silently, and a moment later, he vanished from the spot.

A tiny golden beetle appeared in his place, looking completely inconspicuous.

"Yes, yes, just like this."

Soon, Dewey transformed back; this time, the change hadn't carried the slightest bit of danger.

As a special card, Animagus naturally came with special side effects.

These side effects weren't brought on by the card itself.

The inherent problem with Animagus was that it was extremely difficult to transform into a magical creature.

Once turned into an animal, a person's human consciousness would gradually fade, converging with that of a true animal.

Even when using a card, it was the same.

As a special card, the Animagus transformation could last for an eternity once triggered.

If he didn't mind actually turning into a golden beetle, that is.

"The Animagus transformation was a success.

The prison break can begin."

Dewey Jones began to carefully and meticulously calculate his next moves.

As long as he escaped Azkaban, he would be free.

Day after day of work consumed not only the lives of the prisoners but also the enthusiasm of the Aurors.

They possessed the same viciousness as the bureaucrats at the Ministry of Magic: muddling through and cutting corners.

Therefore, regarding the timing, he needed to exploit a gap.

Dewey was clear-headed.

The Aurors would conduct a headcount after the big shots from the Ministry of Magic left, which meant they would likely discover his disappearance very quickly.

This window would be before dawn tomorrow; after dawn, the Dementors would appear, and the Aurors were unwilling to show their faces in front of them.

Of course, there was also a chance the Aurors wouldn't come to count the prisoners at all.

English wizards were just as lax and undisciplined as their Muggle counterparts.

Dewey's brain raced at high speed. Thanks to that piece of chocolate, he had a lot to think about; regardless, he had to ensure he safely left these waters.

Or, there was an even riskier method.

Apparition?

The entirety of Azkaban and the surrounding sea were restricted from Apparition; someone had placed a curse here.

However, once out on the high seas, Apparition was not restricted.

Once discovered, he could simply Apparate and leave this place.

Dewey carefully deliberated the details and looked at the cards he had learned.

He had already seen the effects of the Level 1 cards, and they weren't particularly useful.

With so many cards, he needed to keep the most useful ones, upgrade the most effective spells, and destroy the temporarily useless cards to turn them into essence.

Upgrading magic cards increased in cost exponentially.

Upgrading a card required merging identical cards.

A Level 1 card required one magic card.

A Level 2 card required two magic cards.

A Level 3 card required six magic cards.

A Level 4 card required eight magic cards.

And so on.

Apparition was undoubtedly something he needed to learn in advance; the Cruciatus Curse was useless for now and could be converted into essence.

It was a great pity that he hadn't obtained the Imperius Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses.

Avada Kedavra, a single-target attack, was simple and effective, making it worth keeping.

Protego, a defensive spell, was worth learning.

With that, Dewey quickly made his decision: he would invest his points into Avada Kedavra, Apparition, and Protego.

As for the rest of the spells, he could easily teach himself after getting out of prison.

Increasing the strength of spell cards required essence.

Essence could be obtained by destroying magic cards.

Commonly known as "dusting."

A white card cost 100 dust to replicate, a blue card 800 dust, a purple card 1600 dust, and a gold card 3200 dust.

Destroying them only yielded one-quarter of that dust.

Moreover, "replicate" meant that without a template, he couldn't create them out of thin air!

Dewey steadied his nerves; he was tensely calculating the numbers.

Excluding the three magic cards he had chosen, the essence he would gain from destroying all other cards totaled 2225.

His system panel updated:

[User: Dewey Jones (Alias)

Learned Cards:

[Protego (Level 1)] (White/Common) *4

[Apparition (Level 1)] (Purple/Epic)

[Avada Kedavra (Level 1)] (Purple/Epic)

[Animagus (Special Card)]

Title: None

Magic Points: 80

Magic Essence: 2225

Duel Points: 0]

He did some quick mental math and found that he could upgrade Apparition to level two.

"Still not enough essence."

Dewey pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes. The moment he saw the essence count, he felt the urge to crawl out and beat someone up again.

However, he quickly dismissed the thought.

It was obvious he had been locked up, which meant the big shots had already arrived.

If he were to run into those big shots, he would likely be on the receiving end of a one-sided beating.

He was no match for that group of Hit Wizards.

What if there was an elite Auror here, too?

Thinking of this, Dewey decided to spend 1600 to copy an Apparition card and synthesize a level two Apparition.

[Apparition]

[Apparition: Go wherever you want, but you had better consider the distance when you leave. The further the distance, the more dangerous the magic. Never forget the 3D principle.]

["Hi, sir, Apparition is prohibited in Gringotts."]

"What is the difference with card upgrades? Distance?"

Dewey wasn't quite sure what exactly was upgraded when an Apparition card leveled up.

He looked at the remaining 625, pondered carefully, and decided to copy Protego.

He already had four Protego cards.

Adding six more would make ten.

Ten Protego cards could upgrade the Armor Charm to level three!

A level three shield charm, level two Apparition, plus a level one Avada Kedavra.

He didn't know if these three trump cards would allow him to go toe-to-toe with the Hit Wizards.

Dewey closed his eyes, contemplating his escape route.

After a while, he heard footsteps coming from outside.

Raising his head, Dewey saw a short, chubby man walking over, looking high-spirited, with a reporter actually following by his side.

The short, chubby man had gray hair that was plastered greasily against his forehead. He was holding court outside the door, not even glancing at the prisoner inside, and strode right past.

The reporter behind him cast a glance at Dewey.

Dewey watched coldly as the man headed toward the high-security prisoner area, keeping his head down so his face remained obscured.

From the snippets of their conversation, Dewey gathered that this old man before him seemed to be the current Minister for Magic.

"Minister for Magic?"

Dewey sat on the floor, thinking maliciously about how many years it would take for this Minister for Magic to become as thin as Sirius Black if he were thrown into Azkaban.

"That day will come."

Dewey sat in the prison, waiting earnestly for time to pass. He listened to the footsteps outside, feeling as though every day was a year.