Chapter 2: Card Draw!

Tom's reason for being in a daze wasn't the mention of the wizarding school; it was because his damn system finally had a response!

He had awakened this system since he was seven, but apart from issuing four tasks every day, he hadn't done anything else! However, just a moment ago, when Professor McGonagall said, "You have been accepted to Hogwarts," Tom heard a crisp sound in his mind, as if a chain had been instantly broken, and countless memories surged in the depths of his mind.

At the same time, a clear, cold female voice echoed in his mind: [Ding! System activated!]

[Installing intelligent voice assistant...]

[Installing character panel...]

[Loading task system...]

[Installation of wishing system complete!]

Professor McGonagall checked her pocket watch and realized that she didn't have much time left. She still had to notify two more young wizards. She said to Tom, "I know this is overwhelming for you. It seems like you need some time to process all of this. I'll come back tomorrow, and I hope you'll have your thoughts in order by then."

With a snap, Professor McGonagall disappeared, leaving Tom standing there in a daze.

After a while, Tom gradually regained his composure. He mulled over his memories, a mix of emotions swirling within him. But the past was like smoke, and past experiences were best left forgotten.

Everything had to be focused on money and the future.

"All right, let's take a look at this system," Tom thought to himself. He briefly browsed the system and found that it resembled a simple mobile game, or even something even more rudimentary. Currently, he could only access the character, card draw, task, and map interfaces.

Tom opened the character interface and saw his own profile picture.

[Tom Riddle

Occupation: Vagrant (has nothing except a handsome face)

Magic Points: None

Knowledge Theory: None

Magic Items: None

Talents: Charms: 3 (Average)

Potions: 5 (Exceptional)

Divination: 0 (No talent)

...

Dark Arts: 9+ (Azkaban)

Magic Stones: 58400]

Tom raised an eyebrow. His Magic Points were impressive, but he was worried that his high Dark Arts talent might get him sorted into Azkaban or Nurmengard when it came time for the sorting hat ceremony at Hogwarts. But what could he do? Could he reduce his talent level?

Next, he clicked on the wishing system—a.k.a. the card draw interface.

A window popped up, displaying three wizards in various poses, with four large words next to them: "Venturing in the World." Below, a small line of text read: "Permanent wishing event open. For specific details, check the information."

In the wishing interface, besides the permanent pool, there was also a beginner's pool labeled "Recommended for Beginners." The biggest benefit of this pool was that you could enjoy two ten-pulls at an 80% discount.

Tom clicked on "Details" to learn more about the wishing system. He quickly understood the mechanics. Each card draw cost 160 Magic Stones, with a guaranteed four-star card every ten draws, and a guaranteed five-star card after 90 draws, at which point the draw counter would reset. However, the specifics of the four-star and five-star cards were not disclosed.

"Well, let's give it a try," Tom thought. He had a decent number of Magic Stones, so he decided to try his luck with several tens of draws.

"My turn to draw a card!" He ruffled his hair into a messy style and clicked the ten-pull button in the beginner's pool.

He watched as ten meteors streaked across the sky, nine blue and one purple. After the animation ended, Tom began to examine his haul.

"Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a loaf of bread..."

His gaze gradually turned dull.

Is this it? Is this all?

These are just... junk items?

It wasn't until a four-star item appeared that he breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that his system could only draw food items.

The four-star item was a shimmering purple scroll. He tapped on the scroll, and it shattered into fragments, disappearing. At the same time, a new line of information appeared in his character panel, accompanied by an annotation.

[Lighting Charm Level 0 (1/100)] (Well done, as a wizard, you have graduated!)

Tom sighed. He figured he could at least become a light bulb now.

Soon, Tom exhausted the beginner's pool, and even the second ten-pull only yielded one scroll, the Ironclad Charm. Tom gazed at the meager results and felt like he should skip Hogwarts altogether and head straight to Africa. With his level of bad luck, he might inherit a tribe there!

Having depleted the beginner's pool, he turned his attention to the permanent pool. This pool had a chance to draw characters who could increase talent points or grant skills. Tom was eyeing the possibility of gaining an extra point in Potions from Severus Snape or speeding up his learning in all subjects from Professor Flitwick. Even Professor McGonagall, if he was lucky, might teach him the Animagus transformation.

If there was one professor Tom least wanted to draw, it would undoubtedly be...

"I am the great Divination Seer, Sybill!"

His heart, lungs, and brain stopped.

Looking at the flamboyantly dressed woman before him, Tom felt his blood pressure skyrocket. What was the use of Divination? Could someone really believe that it was a subject that ordinary people could master? Divination was as specialized as a Stradivarius violin; if you didn't have it at birth, you wouldn't have it in this lifetime.

Among all the subjects at Hogwarts, Divination was undoubtedly the one that depended the most on talent. This subject was like a Steinway piano—if you didn't have the talent when you were born, you wouldn't have it for your entire life.

[End Of Chapter]