31: Violence and Levels

 "I've used the music box that Neville gave me."

The music box rotated and emitted beautiful music, this was the gift Neville gave to John at Christmas.

After knowing that Fluffy liked music, John especially went to the dormitory to get the item.

"Music box, come here."

After entering the trap door, John used the summoning charm to bring the music box back with him.

This was a gift from Neville, John didn't want Fluffy to break it when he woke up.

[Ding, triggering a challenge task!]

[Clear the secret room where the Philosopher's Stone is located, and gain +2 attribute points.

[Also gain the blessing: Knight]

When entering this door, John triggered a challenge task.

Free falling through the trap door, John saw something like a tentacle moving below.

"Reducto!"

The white light pierced through the tentacles, and before John hit the ground, he cast a Levitation Charm on himself.

Gently landing, John looked up.

The broken tentacles of the Devil's Snare were wriggling to seal the hole. He carefully examined it and recognized it as the Devil's Snare.

"Is this to prevent people from falling to their deaths?"

Stroking his chin, John figured that the one who set up this challenge must be the kind-hearted Professor Sprout.

Sprout probably didn't expect someone would use such a violent method to get through, as the Devil's Snare is a plant that loves damp and dark places.

Underneath the Devil's Snare was a stone corridor, the only path forward.

After walking for a while along the corridor, John heard some rustling and tinkling sounds.

It sounded like a swarm of insects flapping their wings.

At the end of the corridor was a brightly lit room, with a high arched ceiling, and countless tiny birds that shone like jewels fluttering their wings around the room.

They were winged keys.

And on the other side of the room was a thick wooden door, with a keyhole.

John looked thoughtfully at the nearby broomstick and said, "This challenge is probably to find the matching key."

Gazing at the myriad of keys, John felt that by the time he found it, Harry would have already come out.

If that's the case, then he should try a different method.

John took the large sword off his back, walked up to the wooden door, and tried an unlocking spell, but it obviously didn't work.

"In that case, I'll just break it open directly."

John gripped the sword with both hands and brought it down onto the wooden door.

This great sword was already quite heavy, and with John's expertise in swordplay, the first strike sent wood chips flying.

By the tenth strike, the wooden door finally collapsed.

Shouldering the great sword, John stepped through the doorway.

The second room was pitch black, and John blinked his eyes, a bit disoriented from the transition from brightness to darkness.

As he stepped in, the room lit up.

The lighting illuminated the entire room, revealing a massive chessboard.

John was standing at the edge, looking around. There were black and white chess pieces on the board.

Judging by their design, they seemed to be the same as wizard's chess pieces. Behind the white pieces was a wooden door.

"Ron?"

That's when he noticed a red-haired figure lying outside the chessboard.

John's heart sank, could something have happened?

After calling out a few times without a response, John wanted to go over there.

But the white chess pieces in front drew their weapons, blocking his path. John's expression darkened as he coldly said, "Either get out of the way, or I'll shatter you all to get through."

It was clear the white pieces had no intention of letting him pass, so John didn't hold back, raising his wand to attack.

"Reducto"

The front-most soldier was shattered by the white light. This had stirred up a hornet's nest.

The white chess pieces started moving, so John cast the disillusionment charm on himself, disappearing from their sight.

The wary white pieces were a bit unsure of the situation, and—Swoosh! the great sword scraped against them, shattering another piece.

With his left hand holding the wand and his right hand wielding the great sword, John merged into the darkness, continuously slaughtering the white pieces.

The shattered white pieces tried to recover, but John's expression hardened - this advanced Transfiguration was likely a challenge set by Professor McGonagall.

"Trying to recover, huh? I'll mix you all together and see how you can do that."

With a wave of his wand, the scattered white pieces all floated up and converged together.

John looked at the White King, 'this seems to be the core.'

"This is check mate!" Leaping up, he twisted his waist and brought down a powerful strike, splitting the White King from top to bottom.

The white pieces ceased movement, and John frowned as he looked at the somewhat deformed sword.

"This sword still isn't good enough."

Having dealt with the chess pieces, he went over to where Ron was lying.

He shook Ron and finally woke him up.

 "Ron, are you okay?"

Ron was also a little confused. He only remembered that he chose to sacrifice himself to let Harry take down the White King. After that, he was knocked unconscious and couldn't remember anything.

Hearing the voice, he opened his eyes, seeing nothing in front of him, and let out a scream in fright.

"AHH! Stay away form me!"

"It's me, Ron, are you okay?"

John removed the Disillusionment Spell and showed concern to Ron.

"Ahh—Oh, it's you! I'm fine, sorry for shouting like that, I'm a bit dizzy. But John, h-how are you here?"

Realizing something was off, Ron opened his mouth wide, looking at John.

John shrugged casually, "Hagrid was worried something might have happened to you, so he asked me to check on you."

Well, this excuse was barely passable.

Ron felt his head was spinning, and when he stood up, he swayed a bit and almost fell over again.

Just as John was considering whether he should send Ron back first, Hermione came out through another door.

"Ron!"

Hermione called out anxiously and saw John standing next to Ron. She paused for a moment.

"Hermione, where's Harry?"

"Harry has gone on to the final challenge, John, how are you here?"

So John repeated the reason, then looked towards the other door.

Seeing his gesture, Hermione said, "Harry has already gone through, the potion for the fifth challenge has been used up."

Without the potion, no matter how worried Hermione was for Harry's safety, it wouldn't help. She could only try to find a way to get Dumbledore back first.

"Fire, huh." John instinctively felt the pocket that held a few potion vials.

As luck would have it.

He just happened to have a bottle of Fire-Protection Potion in his pocket, and how convenient, he had found this in the "Powerful Potions" book, requiring dragon blood to brew.

He only had this one bottle, but it would be enough to get through.

"Then you two go according to the plan, I'll go help Harry."

With that, John didn't bother with Hermione's surprise and went through the door behind the white pieces.

As soon as he entered, John caught the stench of a foul odor.

He was all too familiar with this smell, after all, he had dealt with a big creature that had a similar smell before.

But this time the stench was even more choking, making his eyes water.

Through his blurry vision, he saw the prone form of a troll.

This troll was even bigger than the previous one, and the huge lump on its head showed it had been knocked out for a while.

Just as John thought he wouldn't have to fight another troll again, the fallen giant unexpectedly opened its eyes.

[Ding, defeat the second troll, +1 attribute point, Blessing: Troll Nemesis]

[Troll nemesis: greatly increases the damage to giant creatures, the giant creatures will feel fear after seeing you.]

A quest was triggered, and John narrowed his eyes.

Seeing that the huge troll was waking up, John cast a layer of disillusionment spell on himself.

Before the troll fully regained consciousness, he moved behind it.

John aimed for the head and unleashed a powerful Exploding Charm.

The poor troll had just gotten up when it was sent flying again, this time even more badly, with a huge hole blasted in its head, blood gushing out continuously.

It soon formed a small stream on the ground.

The system simultaneously prompted the completion of the quest. His simple and brutal clearing method was probably even beyond what Dumbledore had expected.

Reaching the final door, John pushed it open.

Purple flames blocked the path, and John took out the Fire-Protection Potion, ready to drink it.

Suddenly he stopped, his gaze becoming unfocused as he summoned the interface.

....

[Magic Power: Level 3 (105/1500)]

[Spells: Alohomora (Level 3), Levitation Charm (Level 4), Transfiguration Charm (Level 2), Disillusionment Charm(Level 3), Lumos (Level 2), Incendio (Level 3), Reducto (Level 3), Fiendfyre (Level 2)...]

[Skills: Short Weapon Mastery (Level 7), Great Sword Mastery (Level 4), Ranged Weapon Mastery (Level 1), Runes Mastery (Level 1), Alchemy Mastery (Level 1)]

[Blessings: Physical Fitness, Quick Attack, Precision, Academic Scholar, Pilot, Long-distance Runner, Sword Dance, Night Stalker, Troll Nemesis]

....

"Last time my Disillusionment Charm failed in front of Dumbledore, this time I can't afford to be careless."

Having made up his mind, John set his sights on the Disillusionment Charm and added the random attribute points he had just obtained.

The Disillusionment Charm number jumped and became Level 4.

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