Chapter 13: Magic Meditation and the Unbent Spoon

Three days later, without any surprises, Dudley claimed the title of champion in the Junior Math Olympiad, with Hermione securing second place. The remaining academic elites at Oxford Dragon Elementary School didn't even make it to the top ten.

At the moment when the results were announced, they once again recalled the fear of being dominated by Dudley.

Too weak; beating up kids was just too unchallenging.

Staring at the reward notification on the system, Dudley fell into silence.

"First intimate encounter with a little witch, reward: one lottery draw."

This was the reward given after the encounter with Hermione in the classroom. Like the one for helping Harry decorate his little house, Dudley hadn't used it.

Deeply believing in mysticism, Dudley thought that his luck wasn't good during that period, so he kept it.

Today was a self-declared auspicious day for Dudley. After the usual bathing and changing clothes, Dudley rubbed his hands together and initiated the lottery.

"I have a feeling that my luck is quite good today. It's time for a draw."

The moment of destiny had arrived.

"Let's draw a natural-born mage."

With such anticipation, Dudley pressed the button on the slot machine, starting with the draw for items.

Almost the moment he started the draw, the result appeared.

A silver spoon appeared in Dudley's hand.

"Congratulations on winning the item 'Unbent Spoon.'"

No explanations, no descriptions, it just looked like an ordinary spoon.

Dudley stared at the spoon, and in the smooth surface's reflection, it seemed like the spoon was also staring at him.

The lottery process was extremely perfunctory, to the point that it didn't even show any visuals. As a result, Dudley had no idea what this thing was.

"I'll figure it out later." With this thought, Dudley carefully tucked the spoon into his pocket.

What if it turned out to be something good?

The first draw wasn't very impressive, following the law of luck conservation; the second draw would definitely yield better results.

So, Dudley initiated the draw again.

Whether it was Dudley's illusion or not, he felt that this time the slot machine was spinning exceptionally slowly.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the slot machine gradually slowed down.

On the screen, a red and white giant mecha gradually appeared.

A work that could be called a childhood memory—the Light Warrior (Magic King).

(Lightbringer (グランゾート) is a machine that appears in the Japanese animation " Magic King ".)

" Domoxalamo? Harry, haha, ha, ya, carrot, Grigri?"

(These words come from Grigri, the little rabbit of the long-eared tribe~ the Light Warrior)

Two spells immediately surfaced in Dudley's mind.

In this work, the Light Warrior actually involved magic. For example, the old lady in the protagonist team, her true identity was V-Mei, one of the three great wizards of the Long-Eared Tribe. Although she often suffered setbacks in the plot, her setting was very powerful.

Another of the three great wizards was the final boss of this work— Yaguraman.

"Give me a Light Warrior?"

"I'm piloting a mecha at Hogwarts?"

Thinking about it, it seemed quite cool.

However, until the last second, anything could happen. Just like the bonuses promised by bosses, until it actually landed in your pocket, it was just an elusive pie in the sky.

The frame of the content displayed by the slot machine slid from the Light Warrior to the next one.

An image of a yellow-furred mouse appeared in Dudley's mind.

This wasn't just an ordinary yellow-furred mouse; it was a widely known creature capable of unleashing a 100,000-volt attack.

"Pikachu?" Dudley said slowly.

The Pokémon (Pocket Monster) series—Pichu.

But what was drawn this time wasn't Pikachu; it wasn't even directly related to him. It was Pikachu's opponent, a yellow-furred fox with narrowed eyes.

A CG animation played in front of Dudley's eyes, depicting a scene from the Pokémon original series: a challenge at the Goldenrod City Gym, Pikachu vs. Abra.

"Congratulations on winning the superpower skill—Meditation."

Meditation, a transformation-type skill in Pokémon, strengthens oneself by focusing the mind. The effect is to raise one's special attack and special defense by one level.

In Pokémon, there are physical attacks and special attacks; physical attacks refer to physical moves, while special attacks broadly refer to energy-based attacks. The same applies to defense and special defense.

But... Doesn't Abra seem unable to learn Meditation?

Just as Dudley raised this doubt, the scene in front of him changed again. A burst of radiant light enveloped Abra, and it evolved into Kadabra.

Kadabra, at level 55, can learn Meditation.

Dudley:

Let's try out the skill's effect.

Dudley sat cross-legged and felt his inner self becoming incredibly calm, like a still water surface. When a drop of water fell into it, it created subtle ripples.

Ding dong.

A faint, invisible red light emanated from Dudley.

It ended.

Besides feeling a calmness within, Dudley didn't sense anything different about himself. Then, he checked his attribute panel.

No changes at all. Still the pitiful 0.8 magical power.

"Hey, I don't believe this." Dudley, feeling intrigued, immediately initiated another Meditation reinforcement.

Two power-ups, three power-ups... It continued until the sixth power-up, and the system prompted that further Meditation wouldn't have any effect. Dudley finally stopped.

This was consistent with the game's effect; there couldn't be an unlimited reinforcement. Each ability could only be enhanced up to six stages.

After six stages of enhancement, Dudley's magical power was still displayed as 0.8.

"What a waste of time."

Just as Dudley thought this, he noticed a small line of text below the magical power value.

"Magical Resistance: 6."

Could this be the effect of enhancing special defense? Although unable to increase magical power, in a certain sense, it was still a divine skill.

Dudley's eyes sparkled.

At this moment, Dudley's data was:

Name: Dudley Dursley

Race: Muggle (True)

Occupation: Wizard (Pseudo), Hamon User

Strength: 9

Agility: 6

Constitution: 15

Magical Power: 0.8

Magical Resistance: 6

Magic: None

Magic Equipment: Unbent Spoon

Skills: Iron Mountain Crush (LV5), Boxing (LV3), Language (LV2), Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry (LV2), Physiology (LV2), Handicraft (LV1), Firearms (LV1), Archery (LV1)

Special: Hamon User (LV1), Meditation (LV???)

Six hours later, the 6 in Dudley's Magical Resistance column gradually changed to 1.

"Now the question is, where did the bonus to special attack go?" Dudley, pinching his chin, fell into contemplation. Unfortunately, no one could tell him, so he had to find the answer himself.

Hogwarts, after Dudley's six-stage enhancement.

The lights in the long-extinguished Admissions Office of Hogwarts suddenly lit up.

On the desk, the quill that had stopped working, as if sensing something, instantly stood upright.

This was a magical quill with thousands of years of history, said to have originated from the time of Hogwarts' founding by the Four Founders. It would record information about magically gifted children from birth.

It wrote another letter on the thick parchment.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards)

Dear...

On the cabinet beside the desk were stacks of letters, all of which were acceptance letters to be sent out to Hogwarts students for the next year.

(End of this chapter)