117: Soul Coffin
"Soul Coffin?"
Ivan thought the name sounded familiar, as though he had come across it somewhere before.
Without dwelling on it too much, he clicked on the detailed description of the task.
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[Soul Coffin]
Category: Main Quest (I)
Introduction: You are about to complete your first year of study at Hogwarts. To verify your learning progress, a cursed object from another world has appeared somewhere in England.
Requirement: Retrieve the Dead Souls Casket and dispel the curse.
Reward: 1 Experience Point, 1 Major Magical Customization.
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"Main quest huh?" Ivan muttered.
"So, the system has something like a main quest as well?"
Although it was his first time encountering such a situation, Ivan wasn't particularly nervous. Instead, he felt a sense of anticipation.
He had confidence in his abilities and wasn't afraid of any challenges or trials that might come his way.
What intrigued him most was the reward for completing the main quest.
1 Experience Point.
Experience points were crucial for increasing attributes beyond the standard limit of 5.
From what Ivan understood, 5 was the upper threshold that any wizard could naturally achieve. Even through magical enhancement, no attribute could surpass this limit—reaching 6 was theoretically impossible.
"Seven is a magical number, especially in the Harry Potter world," Ivan thought.
It could be inferred that the maximum value for an attribute in the system might be 7, aligning with the magical significance of the number.
Of course, in Ivan's opinion, the "7" represented more of a conceptual milestone than just a numerical data point.
For instance, increasing from 5 points to 6 might appear to be just one more point, but that single increment marked a fundamental transformation.
"There's no question about where to allocate this attribute," Ivan reasoned. "As a wizard, is there anything more crucial than magic?"
A wizard with 5 points in magic could already be considered a great wizard. But what heights could be reached with 6 points?
Ivan recalled Dumbledore once mentioning that his own strength, at its peak, was on par with the legendary founders of Hogwarts.
Although there was a saying in the wizarding world that "the older the stronger," every era also had its exceptional geniuses.
A wizard like Dumbledore, who could define an entire era, might not fully match the Founders of Hogwarts, but he had certainly reached their level in many respects.
They might all be within the same "realm," but Dumbledore was in the late stages, while the Founders were at the peak, on the verge of transcending to something greater.
"The twelve doors of the Department of Mysteries lead to the essence of magic," Ivan mused.
Dumbledore and Grindelwald had both pursued the mysteries of life and death, believing that mastery of the three Deathly Hallows could grant control over Death itself.
"Does becoming the Master of Death mean achieving full integration with the magic of death?" Ivan wondered.
The Elder Wand, the Invisibility Cloak, and the Resurrection Stone—simply obtaining these artifacts wasn't enough. There had to be a method to truly activate their combined potential.
But Ivan wasn't entirely sure about any of this.
After all, throughout history, no one had ever possessed all three Deathly Hallows at the same time.
"Currently, old Dumbledore should have two of the Deathly Hallows, but he hasn't obtained the Resurrection Stone," Ivan mused.
The Invisibility Cloak remained with the Potter family, and the Elder Wand had been won by Dumbledore in his legendary duel with Grindelwald.
Ivan could imagine that if the old headmaster were given the right opportunity, he might finally take that crucial step.
In the original story, Dumbledore—cursed by Voldemort's trap on the Gaunt family ring—ultimately met his end at the hands of Snape.
'Death is but the next great adventure.'
Recalling the King's Cross Station scene described in the original book, Ivan had reason to suspect that Dumbledore might have transcended his mortal limitations.
"Is this the power of the system?" Ivan thought to himself. "Dumbledore spent his entire life—and even faced death multiple times—to reach such a realm. Yet, I only need to complete this task and allocate the attribute point to magic."
The main issue now was that Ivan had no idea where to find the Soul Coffin.
This was proving to be quite troublesome.
The system had only provided the task itself; locating the artifact and breaking its curse were challenges he would have to figure out on his own.
"Breaking the curse shouldn't be too difficult," Ivan thought.
With the dual abilities of his Magic Eye and spiritual vision, he could likely unravel most curses. That is, unless it was something akin to the Killing Curse Avada Kedavra, which had no known counter.
"But how can I find it?" Ivan wondered, frustration creeping in.
Over the next few days, he scoured the Hogwarts library for any books or records related to the Soul Coffin, but his efforts yielded no useful information.
With no other options, Ivan decided to seek help from the professors and even Dumbledore himself.
However, even the wise and well-read headmaster seemed perplexed by the term.
"The Soul Coffin?" Dumbledore repeated, his brows furrowing. "It sounds like some sort of ghost story."
The headmaster shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry, young Ivan, but I've never encountered such a curse."
"Thank you anyway, Professor," Ivan replied politely, though disappointment was evident in his tone.
Failing to get any leads from Dumbledore left Ivan at a loss. His connections within the wizarding world were virtually nonexistent, and the only magical experts he knew were the professors at Hogwarts.
Fortunately, the professors were willing to assist.
Despite their lack of familiarity with the "Soul Coffin" Ivan mentioned, they promised to help him search for relevant information.
After all, Ivan was the strongest and favored student among the Hogwarts staff, and they wouldn't turn down such a request, especially for something so seemingly harmless.
Hua La La~~
Just as Ivan was grappling with his dead-end search, far to the east of England, a cruise ship was fishing near the coast.
The people aboard weren't fishermen but wealthy individuals enjoying a leisurely day of sea fishing.
"This must be a big catch!"
The captain barked orders to the crew, urging them to haul up the large fishing net. The passengers onboard eagerly gathered around, curious to see what treasures the sea had yielded this time.
Bang!
The heavy thud of an object hitting the deck startled everyone. Their expressions quickly shifted from excitement to astonishment.
Amid the tangled seafood now scattered on the deck, a stone coffin about half a person's length lay in stark contrast to the surrounding fish and sea creatures.
The eerie atmosphere gripped the onlookers, and an unexplainable chill seemed to creep into their hearts, making several people shiver involuntarily.
"What is this?" someone asked hesitantly.
"A stone box...?" another ventured.
Although the object resembled a coffin, its small size ruled out the possibility of holding a full-grown person—perhaps only a child could fit inside.
"Could it be an antique?" someone else suggested cautiously.
The ownership of the stone coffin was immediately unclear.
The ship had hauled it up, but it was the wealthy merchant family who had financed the sea fishing trip.
In most cases, such an unexpected find would lead to disputes over ownership.
Yet this time, no one argued.
The scene fell into an uneasy silence. Neither the captain nor the merchant family showed any willingness to claim the strange stone coffin.
Their instincts seemed to scream that the object was ominous, a thing best left untouched.
"How about donating it to a museum?" someone finally suggested.
Both the captain and the merchant were wealthy individuals who cared little about the potential monetary value of the find.
After a brief discussion, they reached a mutual understanding and decided to donate the peculiar stone coffin salvaged from the sea to the British Museum.
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