418 The dueling room

"For the more active amongst you the next room will be of particular interest as it is a little competition I set up that doubles as an accurate gauge of where you stand in magical combat." Nick explains after his show. "How's that work exactly?" Fred asked curiously. "The room we are going to creates a set of targets based on what it is set on that you need to destroy for points. If you get hit with an attack instead it cost points off your total and once the level is complete you get a final score that is color based to show where you stand skill wise at that level."-

"There are currently nine levels of difficulty based on each year of Hogwarts and the final two are where I believe graduated wizards as a whole should be scored. The three colors are green which is excellent , yellow which is average and red which is failing. Your score is based on your points so there are different levels to each of the colors as well so the only way to surpass the person higher on the scoreboard is to have a better score or if they have a perfect score be the first person to do so." Nick explained with a smile.-

He was quite proud of the dueling room as it took the arcade shooter scoring system to the next level so that it was actually useful for wizards to polish their combat skills. "Sounds like the sort of thing that the aurors office would want to be honest." Arthur says with an interested expression. "Hadn't thought about it until now but I suppose you are correct. This next room would indeed help them in training their members greatly." Nick said with a thoughtful expression.-

 'Perhaps I can create a few training rooms like this for the ministry to bolster the effectiveness of the aurors in combat. Might even come in handy when the violence of the wizarding world getting exposed to the muggles happens.' He pondered as he pushed open the door to the space expanded room that looked like a forest at the moment. "Undetectable expansion charm?" Florian asked in surprise. "Not this time , this room is actually a very well made illusion field that shifts with the people in it to make so that you never actually move out of it's center after entering it." Nick explained calmly.-

"How do we leave then?" Luna asked curiously. "The door is a permanent fixture regardless of what the surroundings appear to be so it is as simple as merely walking out. This map though is part of the seventh year level though since I forgot to rest it." Nick said before tapping the space to the left of the door with his wand causing a key to appear inside a socket. Grabbing the key and pulling it out the room turned into a normal sized one with stone walls and nine key holes side by side next to the door.-

"This key serves as the central point for all nine of these enchantments that represent the levels. So long as this key is missing each enchantment is inert and incomplete but when the key is added it activates. I had to do this since I having figured out how to stack separate complete enchantments quite yet so this was the best I could do. The walls are also lined with hagstone to prevent any spells from doing structural damage so in theory you all shouldn't break the room without seriously trying to." Nick explained before holding out the key for anyone who wanted to give the room a go.-

Fred took the key and mischievously slotted it into the final keyhole causing the room to shift to a modern version of London except on fire and devastated and devoid of life save a person in a black robe with a skull mask not far away , a death eater. Everyone except Nick instinctively took out their wands but the figure didn't move. "It's only an illusion everyone , Also the simulation won't start until any spectators have their wand put away since it is a single person activity." Nick said and everyone relaxed.-

"Why one of THOSE people though?" Sirius asked while glaring at the image of the death eater. "Because this is the highest difficulty and so anyone on this level should be a seasoned fighter capable of handling the average death eater with the final opponent of the level being a powerful one such as your cousin Bellatrix." Nick explained honestly. "Your standards are awfully high aren't they?" Florian asked clearly unnerved even by the illusion of a death eater. "True combat is not a gentle place so I won't coddle anyone in training for it. This entire game is a test of skill after all so if anything my standards are quite reasonable." Nick argued firmly.