Library

"Ivan, how about we go back to the dormitory and play some wizard chess after dinner?" Ron asked Ivan in a slurred voice as he munched on a chicken leg in the lounge after his last lesson on Wednesday afternoon.

Ivan slowly put the last piece of steak into his mouth. After a moment's thought, he shook his head and refused.

"No, I have to go to the library later. Go play with Harry."

'Harry's game stinks. It's not challenging at all…' Ron shook his head in disappointment at first, then dropped the drumstick as if he'd suddenly become aware of Ivan's words.

"My God! The library? I thought only one person in the entire grade went there!"

"Hermione?" Yvonne thought for a moment. "The only young wizard who comes into the library every day just days after school starts must be our Miss Know-it-all."

"Yeah, who else?" Ron said in an exaggerated tone.

Beside him, Harry suddenly tugged on Ron's shoulder, and Ron realized that Hermione, with her arms full of books, was also in the lounge. Only then did he lower his voice and tell everyone how much Hermione liked to preach and be condescending.

Fortunately, perhaps because of the distance, Hermione didn't move. She probably hadn't heard Ron.

Harry, too, stood awkwardly listening. He didn't like the idea of badmouthing people behind their backs, but the other young wizards were interested.

It had to be said that in just a few days of school, Miss Granger had become famous in the gossip circle of the young wizards with her preaching personality.

Ivan was not involved in the discussion of Hermione, but he was not surprised by the situation.

After all, they were all 11 or 12 years old wizards. No one liked to be lectured to their face, especially by a young wizard of the same age.

"What were you doing in the library, Ivan?" Harry asked curiously.

Was it that the brothers weren't having fun… Pfft, weren't the brothers being nice enough? Or was it that the sorcerer's flag wasn't having fun? Although Ron didn't say anything, it was obvious from his eyes that he meant it.

This was like a buddy who made an appointment with you every day to play games after school and suddenly said one day that he was going to the library to study hard.

Ivan's mouth twitched.

He didn't want to play any wizard flags. He was just trying to see if there was any other way to obtain GPA.

Not because something like a wizard's flag was both novel and fun…

"Don't you think it's getting harder and harder for the professors to assign homework? What will we do at the end of term if we don't work hard now?" Ivan glanced at Harry for a long moment before sighing.

Ivan knew that his talent was mediocre, coupled with the disadvantage of his wand compatibility. Among the junior wizards in the first grade, his spellcasting skills were basically below average.

Under such circumstances, the only way to improve the evaluation of the professors was to work hard on the knowledge level.

If he increased his knowledge reserves and answered questions normally, he might even get an impression or something.

Ivan finished eating, gathered his things, and said to Ron, "Ron, you want to come?"

Although Ron's magical talent was slightly better than his, it was above average at best. Compared to Harry, the gap was still obvious. In addition, Ron himself did not work very hard, so he would be the weakest in the Iron Triangle in the future.

So in the interests of goodwill, Ivan reminded him anyway.

Although Ivan hadn't really expected Ron to agree…

Sure enough, Ron was shaking his head rapidly. 'Are you kidding? We've only been here a couple of days and we're still a long way from the end of term. What's the rush?'

"Forget it…" Ivan didn't care and walked straight to the library.

'Watch this. Ivan'll be back in an hour at the most, or I'll eat the board…' Ron muttered a betting curse.

…

The library at Hogwarts had the most number of complete books on magic in all of England or even all of Europe. It had everything from ordinary teaching books to esoteric forbidden spells and black magic!

Ivan, who was visiting the library for the first time, was also stunned by the sea of books. Rows of shelves were tightly connected, and each shelf contained as many as a thousand books on magic. It was far more spectacular than the movies Ivan had seen in his previous life.

Perhaps it was because school had just started, but there were not many young wizards in the library. They leaned against the bookshelves or long corridors in twos and threes, leaving a lot of space in the resting area in the middle.

[Ding, exploring the library…]

The system voice in his head pulled Ivan's attention back to the present. When he focused, he realized that the quest to explore Hogwarts in the Mission Tree had increased by five percentage points at once.

More importantly, including the added credits, it was just enough to exchange for the 100 credits needed for the Academic Genius Experience Card.

Ivan couldn't stop his gaze from wandering to the forbidden book section. The Soul Catcher and Occlumency spells he was looking for could be found here…

"Are you looking for any books, child?" asked Mrs. Alma Pins, the Librarian, as she approached him.

"Yes, ma'am. May I ask where the books related to the Transfiguration Spell are? Preferably the more basic ones." Ivan looked away from the forbidden section and turned to Mrs. Pins.

"Come with me…" Mrs. Pins directed Ivan to a bookshelf. She took a copy of the Primary Transfiguration Guide from the shelf and handed it to Ivan. Then she paused before continuing.

"You were looking at a restricted section. Unless you can get authorization from the professors, no reading or borrowing of relevant books is allowed."

"I was curious, that's all. I wasn't planning on actually going in," Ivan said with a casual shrug, holding the book in his hands.

Ivan was not prepared to read these dangerous forbidden books in the near future. After all, with his current magic foundation, it was not appropriate for him to learn these profound spells.

Anyway, there was still a whole semester left. He would talk about it when he was free…

After Mrs. Pins finished explaining things to Ivan, she quickly turned and left. After all, she still had to keep an eye on the senior wizards. Almost every once in a while, one of them would try to break into the restricted section.

Of course, before she left, Mrs Pins didn't forget to remind Ivan to forbid noise in the library!

Ivan walked to the seating area and sat down. He wasn't in a hurry to experiment with the effects of the Overlord Body Testing Card. Instead, he flipped through the book, preparing to read it in his normal state for a while before comparing it to see how many times his learning efficiency could increase.

Soon, there was only the sound of flipping pages in the lounge, occasionally interrupted by some noise elsewhere.