Chapter 68: Magical Stone Level Speedrun Guide

"Exciting News! Get Ready for a Massive 35-Chapter Release on Patreon after 6 Days!"

On the central stone, Tom tapped it, causing the third stone to change. Now, the petal count was 1-3-1-3-1. Next, he tapped the left and rightmost stones, causing them to switch places, resulting in the pattern 2-1-1-1-2. With some common sense, it was apparent that tapping the middle stone once would light up two petals on each stone.

Tom solved the puzzle, and the door to the cage creaked open. Hundreds of keys swarmed out, and Tom could clearly see a large silver key with its wings drooping, as if it had been forcefully grabbed before.

Just as Tom was about to act, he witnessed a shocking scene. Professor McGonagall, in a manner inconsistent with her age and identity, agilely hopped onto a broomstick in the corner of the room and soared into the air. Tom could only stare as she effortlessly caught the key.

Tom: !

Professor McGonagall glanced at the stunned Tom and smiled faintly, "I was a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team in my youth."

Tom deeply regarded the professor, who challenged his understanding, and opened the door.

Tom had decided: today, he would collaborate with Professor McGonagall to confront Quirrell.

Behind the door was a corridor. After walking some distance, they reached a circular room, standing in the center. In front of them was a peculiar frog statue.

Professor McGonagall curiously observed the surroundings:

The statue had a blue bead on its back and held a red bead in its mouth. In front of the statue, there were concentric grooves, resembling a mosquito coil.

Suddenly, openings appeared at both ends of the grooves, and balls of various colors rolled out. Professor McGonagall observed that only red, yellow, blue, and green balls were present. The balls rolled down the tracks.

At this moment, she heard a "pop" beside her. Tom was manipulating the frog. He aimed the frog's mouth at the rolling balls, and with a pat on its rear, the frog would spit out the ball into the lineup.

If three or more balls of the same color were adjacent, they would merge into one and vanish. The bead on the frog's back indicated the next ball to be spit out, and with each launch, a new bead appeared in the gap.

Tom continuously shot balls, hitting every target with precision, clearing the field within a minute.

Professor McGonagall: Σ(⊙▽⊙!

She suddenly understood the reason Dumbledore asked her to play this game—a joint creation of Dumbledore and her. She transformed the frog and beads, while Dumbledore established the rules.

However, after a moment of contemplation, she pulled out her wand. "Confringo!"

A loud explosion resonated, destroying the remaining three balls on the field. The completion sound chimed, and the opening gradually expanded, forming a door.

Tom: ...

Why do these challenges always have peculiar solutions?

In fact, not only the challenges Tom suggested, but Dumbledore's original challenges also had their unconventional solutions. For instance, the key challenge at the beginning, Tom suspected the door could be blasted open; the chess challenge—if one ran fast enough, perhaps it could be bypassed; Snape's fire challenge, Tom probably had a method to avoid it.

So, the most reliable and skill-intensive challenge was surprisingly the one left by Quirrell.

By the way, in the trio, there was precisely one skilled in logical analysis, one adept at chess, and one with flying talent. They all knew how to deal with the giant creature. Snape's Devil's Snare, wasn't it just for cushioning their fall? Preventing three young wizards from plummeting to their deaths.

From these challenges, it was evident that at the beginning of the semester, Dumbledore intended to use the Philosopher's Stone to train Harry. Until Quirrell's intrusion, Dumbledore likely maintained this mindset. However, Quirrell's cunning moves forced him to abandon the "Potter Development Plan" and send Professor McGonagall to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, what was Harry doing?

"Neville, Ron, I think we need to monitor Snape all day... Yes, I know it's challenging, but we must try our best, find crucial evidence, and expose him to Professor Dumbledore!"

Neville & Ron: ...

Easy to say, but that's Snape! Monitor Snape!

At this point, Tom and Professor McGonagall had reached the final challenge: the one personally designed by Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall felt a bit uneasy. The intruders were progressing too fast! She regretted being too lax in the earlier challenges.

However, Tom reassured her, "Professor Dumbledore's challenges are not so easily overcome. We can always trust Professor Dumbledore."

Encouraged, she concentrated and observed Snape's challenge. She had no prior knowledge of Snape's challenge, unlike the challenges designed by other professors. Typically, there was communication between professors. However, she barely exchanged three sentences a week with Snape. How could she grasp his challenge-designing insights?

Upon entering Snape's challenge, fire emerged at the entrance and exit, blocking the entire way. Snape's room contained nothing superfluous—only a table and five bottles. Beside the bottles lay a parchment with written instructions.

Professor McGonagall picked up the parchment and read aloud:

Danger ahead, safety behind.

Two bottles aid, three will harm bones.

Five wizards, five rooms, different colors.

Five wizards, five schools, different names.

Each person drinks one beverage, uses one wand core, and transforms into one form of magical creature.

Different beverages, wand cores, and forms.

She continued reading the instructions, revealing the relationships among the wizards, houses, wands, and creatures. The challenge required solving a complex puzzle.

"Logical puzzle..." Professor McGonagall murmured, then looked at Tom.

However, Tom was also clueless.

You can read +78 advanced chapters on my P@treon page for just 4$ !!

P@treon.com/young_sunlight

Collection/Tag is : TDDH

(End of this chapter)