Crabbe and Goyle both used Draco's magic mobile phone, and in order to pull the characters they wanted, each of them rerolled five or six times.
They even developed a strategy for the fastest reroll route so they could open multiple accounts to claim those free crystal fragments.
Draco opened a second account as well.
He could not bear that his first gold card was the Unlucky Knight, even though this warrior's ultimate move could taunt enemies and the special effects were quite cool.
Still, this was ultimately not his Ella Thornwood.
His father had once told him to learn to assess the situation and befriend anyone who might achieve success in the future.
In his eyes, Ella was the person most worthy of befriending.
After all, she could fight, could heal, and was also pretty.
Ella was worth it!
Looking at the backend data, Lorne suddenly felt that he was a bit too cruel.
The characters in the card pool came from the History of Magic or The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Lorne was afraid that some little wizards might not know them at all, so he arranged for the widely circulated and highly accepted Ella Thornwood to come to the rescue for the game's first small climax.
After all, if players did not know a single character, it would be hard for them to have a sense of immersion, and pulling cards would lack passion. So where would he harvest the power of emotion from?
Once there was a single card they recognized, they would look for the corresponding origins of every card in the card pool rather than suspecting that some cards might be completely fictional.
It was a classic case of a slippery slope in thought.
Actually, there was nothing wrong with it. What truly made Lorne feel a bit guilty was that he had lowered Ella's drop rate.
Lorne reflected on himself, recalling the gacha games he had played. To resonate with a character in the card pool, they either had to appear in the storyline or release a CG upon launch.
Lorne obviously could not achieve either of these two points, and he could only make up for it from other places.
Character art, special effects, pulling animations.
And prefixes.
Foreigners' names lacked any sort of logic. If people were not familiar with the characters in the card pool, just hearing the names made it impossible to connect them with their positioning, background, and traits.
He needed to patch this up quickly.
He added character prefixes to the gacha and character interfaces, such as Thorn of Thorns - Ella Thornwood, Headless Knight - Unlucky Knight, and so on.
The game was still single-player for now. Although Lorne temporarily lacked the ability to make it a multiplayer version, some interactive functions could still be rushed out.
A friends system, character rentals, and the love-hate leaderboard.
"Merlin's long teeth, ten pulls and two golds!"
Draco was so happy he was about to jump off the bed, and Crabbe and Goyle hurriedly crowded around.
"Why does this feel a bit different from before..."
"It seems like a title has been added."
"Invisible Man - Ignotus, and..." Draco nervously flipped open the last card, "Thorn of Thorns - Ella Thornwood!"
"Oh god, Draco, your luck is too good," Crabbe egged him on from the side, "This Ignotus is a character from the Deathly Hallows, the recipient of the Invisibility Cloak."
"Draco, can you let me open another account..." Goyle was so anxious he was scratching his ears and cheeks.
Having obtained Ella, Draco had already forgotten what he had once said. He wanted to give all his time to this game, so he flatly and decisively refused, "No, this is my magic mobile phone."
Crabbe and Goyle cried and howled, wanting to write letters home to have their families buy them magic mobile phones as well.
Inside the Gryffindor Common Room.
Ron did not have this kind of confidence. Even while watching Harry, Hermione, and Neville gathered together discussing the game contents, he only continuously shifted around, watching the three people's operations back and forth.
"Hermione, you are too smart." Watching Hermione easily crack the map puzzle that had stumped Harry and Neville, Ron could not help praising her.
Hermione gave her curly waves a toss, "What did you think I relied on to win the magic mobile phone?"
"If only I had some special skill back then," Ron complained with a straight face, "Then I wouldn't have to foolishly stand here and watch you guys play."
"You can play mine first, Ron."
Neville handed over his magic mobile phone.
"What, Neville?" Ron took it in pleasant surprise, unable to believe it, "Then what about you, do you not want to play anymore?"
"No, I'm going to find Director Lorne tonight and won't need it temporarily, so I'm lending it to you to play," Neville explained, "You can create an account of your own."
"I know," Ron was still very happy, "Oh, thank you so much, Neville. I'll definitely help maintain your magic mobile phone before you get back."
"Truly a correct decision, Neville." Hermione was sincerely happy that Neville had made this choice.
Ron got the phone and impatiently restarted the game. When he saw the small badge added to the top left corner of the game, he could not help crying out loudly.
"Leaderboard? Wait, why is Malfoy's combat power first place?"
Neville had not yet been to the castle's main keep.
He was an honest child and had few opportunities to be called to a teaching professor's office for criticism or praise.
Standing before the door of the General Affairs Office at this moment, Neville swallowed a lump in his throat, forcing himself to calm down before knocking on the door.
No response.
When Neville wanted to knock a second time, the door suddenly opened automatically.
Lorne, who had been slumped over his desk, raised his head and said in pleasant surprise, "It's Neville, please come in."
Neville had never seen Director Lorne use a wand. He had always thought Director Lorne might be more proficient at solving affairs and organizing activities.
He had not expected Lorne to use magic in private so smoothly, reaching the point of not needing a wand at all.
The door closed automatically, a chair was magically pulled out from the desk cavity, and after two cubes of sugar jumped into an open-mouthed cup, it drifted over in front of Neville.
"Director Lorne, your magic is really amazing. Have you always not used magic because you want to experience the lives of us new first-years who don't know anything?"
Looking at Neville's bright eyes, Lorne rejoiced that the spell he had drawn today was the Levitation Charm, which could be used directly.
He nodded shamelessly.
"Please keep it a secret for me, Neville."
"Of course, Director."
Neville was extremely excited. Being able to reach an agreement with Director Lorne and knowing a secret that no one else knew made him feel for the first time that he had a sense of presence at Hogwarts.
"Can you also help me keep today's visit a secret?"
"Why is that?"
"Because I feel..." Neville twitched the corner of his clothes, "This isn't very Gryffindor, and not very brave."
"I respect every student's privacy," Lorne gave Neville a guarantee first, "but asking for help is not cowardice, Neville."
"Knowing something cannot be done and yet doing it anyway is not bravery; it is foolishness called hot-bloodedness. Knowing when to advance or retreat and borrowing external force is not cowardice; it is wisdom at its most appropriate."
Neville looked thoughtful, though Lorne did not expect to awaken this kind of Gryffindorism all at once. He changed the subject.
"Neville, I want to understand Professor Snape, as well as how other classmates are bullying you."