Wind and Eagle Wings at Hogwarts

Chapter 473 473. The Second Round Begins

Scott had to suspend his alchemy experiments after spending his Galleons uncontrollably in a short period of time.

But in the short term, it is unrealistic to earn enough Galleons to support his experiments. After thinking about it, Scott asked Lucio for advice.

"You're a little too crazy, Scott." Lucio complained to him first, "I'm always careful when doing alchemy experiments, and I've never wasted so many materials."

Scott didn't take it seriously, "If you want to make progress in a short period of time, there is no way to consume this level of consumption. At least I don't think there is a waste."

He had already accumulated a certain level of experience during this time, and those Galleons weren't all white flowers.

Lucio looked at him with dead fish eyes, "You make a lot of sense, but few people do it."

"So how did you manage to have consistent financial support for your alchemy studies?" Scott asked him.

"Since the beginning of alchemy, I no longer need the support of my parents and can maintain self-sufficiency." Lucio said proudly.

Scott asked, "How do you do it, selling alchemy items? Wouldn't that take up your time?"

Lucio nodded, "You're right, so I seldom sell my works at school, unless someone comes to me with a gold Galleon to order."

He added, "Of course, even custom-made ones don't have much money, and rich guys will go directly to famous alchemists."

As for how he makes money...

"I usually make some magic items that sell well and put them on consignment in the property of Professor Roselle's family."

Lucio told Scott.

"If you still remember, I got a water-attribute rune circuit for skin care during the summer vacation. In short, my products are selling very well now, and witches like them very much."

"..."

Scott remembered.

But Lucio still complained before, as if he was very dissatisfied with his gains from the second-hand shopping.

"What kind of eyes do you have?" Lucio curled his lips, "I'm really not satisfied, after all, that set of rune circuits has no other purpose other than making money."

As he spoke, he turned his eyes.

"I know what you want, Scott, but you don't have to do it yourself."

Lucio moved closer and patted Scott on the shoulder.

"If you want to get close to the four elements and magic materials, you can completely ask me to customize them. For me, that's just the foundation."

He said with a smile.

"The Galleons you spent can already buy a lot from me."

Scott was unimpressed.

"You also said that it's just the basics of alchemy. I think it's better to master it yourself, lest you have to buy it every time you need it."

But Lucio said: "What's the point? Isn't that the meaning of our existence as alchemists?"

Scott glanced at him, "I said, it's better not to be too greedy, you guy has already earned enough from me."

In order to save trouble, all the materials he used in the previous experiments were bought from Lucio.

This guy must have made a profit!
"I didn't earn your money, my friend." Lucio yelled, "I gave it to you at cost price."

Scott just stared at him without saying a word.

"Well, I just made a little bit of money."

Lucio stretched out his right hand, making a short distance between his thumb and index finger.

"But I have a present for you."

He took a small wooden box from his pocket and handed it to Scott.

"This is what you need, don't say that I earned your money, I even posted my own money."

"is it?"

Scott raised his eyebrows, took the box, opened it and looked at it.

The inside of the box was divided into four compartments, each containing a piece of metal the size of a knuckle.

These four pieces of metal are blue, red, green, and brown. Scott tested it with magic power perception, and it really has the breath of the four elements of wind, fire, water, and earth, and it is quite pure.

"Is it a little too small..."

Scott picked up the piece of wind-attributed blue metal and tossed it in his hand.

"You've seen my game, my Transfiguration is huge."

"What are you kidding!" Lucio said dissatisfied, "These are not cheap!"

Judging by his posture, he seemed to want to reach out and snatch it back.

"Ok."

Scott quickly put the metal into the wooden box, and quickly put the wooden box into the deformed lizard skin bag.

"Thanks."

Although Lucio certainly didn't post any money, he might have spent more than half of the profits he earned.

This friend is worth it.

"Just don't forget to exchange alchemy knowledge with me often." Lucio said.

"Me?" Scott pointed to himself.

"I know it." Lucio smiled slyly, "You have a mysterious mentor and a master alchemist, otherwise why would Professor Russell give you so much convenience?"

"So it is."

Scott laughed.

As Professor Roselle's closest apprentice, Lucio must be aware of some things.

He knew that he couldn't talk to Scott's mysterious mentor, so he set his sights on Scott himself.

But Scott didn't dislike Lucio's approach, at least, he expressed his thoughts clearly.

"Communicate, of course it's no problem."

He agreed.

After bidding farewell to Lucio, Scott returned to the Hogwarts tower.

With the gift from Lucio, he can temporarily forget about making money.

Although the four pieces of material that Lucio gave him were indeed smaller, since the magic power increased, Scott's transfiguration has also entered the final stage of his vision——

A triple stack of Transfiguration with Ancient Runes and Charms.

For him now, changing the size of the "summoned beast" only needed an expansion spell.

Of course, he is not ready to give up the study of alchemy.

It is impossible for him to only have four "summoned beasts", and it is impossible for him to find Lucio to buy materials every time.

Back in the dormitory, Scott was not in a hurry to make the "Summoned Beast". He took out his notebook and began to further optimize the design of the "Summoned Beast".

His idea is to make more use of the nesting technology of rune circuits, that is, to use multiple rune circuits to increase the "skills" of "summoned beasts".

This technique was first realized in Rimbaud.

Strictly speaking, Rimbaud has two "skills", named by Scott as [Flying] and [Concealment].

[Fly] makes Rimbaud fly very fast, and [Concealment] makes it difficult to detect in the shadows.

Of course, because Scott's level was limited at the time, even if he consumed a one-time magic stone, Rimbaud's only really useful "skill" was [Flying], while [Concealment] was not very effective.

When Rimbaud is hiding in the shadows, although it is easy to be ignored, as long as you look carefully, you can still find some clues.

Even if the effect is not very good, the technology of embedding multiple magic text circuits is still very difficult. If Scott did not have a one-time magic stone in hand at that time, Scott would definitely fail.

Later, Scott did this through his own strength.

The result is that water-attribute swordfish, combining [Water Prison] and [Water Blade].

Of course, the reason why he can do this is also because the two sets of rune circuits have the same attributes and use many of the same ancient runes. The difficulty of embedding is actually not high, even more difficult than the two effects on Rimbaud. lower.

Scott turned his notebook to the page on the design of Edgar Allan Poe, aka Firecrow.

He wanted Fire Crow to also have the ability of [Flying], besides that, [Fire Circle] could also be integrated into it.

After writing down the goal on paper, Scott took out a new piece of parchment and began to design the nesting diagram of the three rune circuits.

For the experiment, he cut his finger and dropped a drop of blood in the ink.

In this way, there will be some slight magical power in the ink, which can make the rune circuit he wrote produce a slight reaction to verify whether the design drawing is successful.

Because this reaction is very slight, it will not cause damage, and it is an intuitive and safe verification method.

Of course, he can also use the blood of magical animals, which also contains magic power.

But animal blood was far less useful than his own blood, which was the only one that could respond more sensitively to his own magic power.

Scott's first attempt quickly failed.

The rune circuits nested together immediately collapsed under the action of magic power, and the parchment was torn apart by invisible forces.

Scott calmly pulled out a new piece of parchment and began another attempt.

After he shredded a dozen pieces of parchment, the difficulty of embedding these three sets of rune circuits became extremely clear in his mind.

The next step is to try different permutations and combinations of known conditions to find the most suitable one.

But Scott doesn't need to use stupid methods to try one by one, it would take too much time, and he has a simpler method for this type of problem——

Arithmetic divination.

With sufficient known conditions, arithmetic and divination will tell him the only correct answer.

Scott picked up his wand and flicked it lightly, leaving a string of golden numbers in the air.

Today, Scott has also made considerable progress in the magical art of arithmetic divination, and has simplified some steps.

The numbers scroll, change, collide, and disappear, leaving only one answer in the end.

Scott closed his eyes and deciphered the answer.

When he opened his eyes, he began to write quickly on the parchment.

After repeating arithmetic divination several times in this way, Scott modified all the previously failed nodes in the design diagram.

Soon, a new design drawing was completed. When Scott input magic power into the rune circuit, the parchment began to ignite slowly.

This represents the success of the design of the rune circuit nesting diagram.

He changed a new bottle of ink, re-recorded the design drawing, and put it away.

Next up is the redesign of the Sailfish.

The combination of [Water Prison] and [Water Blade] allows Sailfish to move freely in places without water, and its attack is not weak, but its weakness is that it can only go straight.

Therefore, Scott decided to add another [hidden] "skill" to it.

In his vision, when Sailfish activates [Concealment], its body will merge with the water in [Water Prison], and the enemy will not be able to judge the direction of its attack.

Time passed in such a busy way.

When Scott was basically familiar with the apparition spell and successfully designed the sailfish's rune circuit nesting diagram, the time for the second round of competition had arrived.

February 2 was the day when the second round of the Triwizard Tournament was held as scheduled.

Early in the morning, the three warriors all came to the woods where the winemaking hut was located, collected the single malt whiskey they brewed, and then went to the venue of the competition.

In order to prevent someone from secretly substituting the bought single malt whiskey for the wine he brewed, the whole process was supervised by Mr. Jolly, a member of the jury.

"Warriors, now, take out your results!"

Mr. Jolly stood in front of the cabin and said loudly to Scott and the three of them.

The three nodded, each went into the wooden house, and each came out with a wine barrel.

"Very well, now we shall go," continued Mr. Jolly. "The audience must be impatient!"

They walked out of the woods and boarded the carriage parked outside the woods.

The carriage took off, passed the castle and the manor, and arrived at the venue of this round of competition - the Pegasus Ranch.

That is, the pasture surrounded by mountains where Beauxbaton raised the rune horse.

At this time, several high platforms for watching the game have been built on the edge of the ranch. These high platforms are similar to the stands of the Quidditch stadium, and they are already full of spectators.

"Gentlemen and ladies, welcome to the second round of this Triwizard Tournament!"

Mr. Jolly, who was the first to get off the car, couldn't wait to greet the audience with his loud magic.

Amidst the warm cheers, Mr. Jolly first showed the audience the standings of the three warriors.

"First of all, No.2 in the standings, the warrior from Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour, with 43 points!"

The scoreboard was erected high on the edge of the ranch, and the corresponding points were displayed following Mr. Jolly's announcement.

"Tied for No.2, the warrior from Hogwarts, Scott Trollope, 43 points!"

The announcement of Scott's points sparked an uproar.

Many viewers don't know why Scott, who got No.1 last time, was deducted 5 points.

Mr. Jolly hurriedly explained loudly, "Because Mr. Trollope clashed with them after the game, the referees unanimously decided to deduct 5 points as a punishment!"

Although his explanation was vague, he managed to silence the audience.

After all, these French audiences don't care why Scott, a British student, was deducted points, as long as there is a reason, they are eager to deduct more.

In the carriage compartment, the three people who hadn't got off the carriage remained silent.

Krum spoke suddenly.

"It's not fair," he said. "That has nothing to do with the game."

As he spoke, he also glanced at Furong.

Fu Rong's complexion instantly became ugly, as if someone had punched her in the face.

"It's not for me to decide." She said coldly, "Besides, Professor Hartman was the first to agree to Mr. Jolly's proposal."

At this moment, Mr. Jolly began to announce loudly, "Finally, the current No.1 in the standings, the warrior from Durmstrang, Viktor Krum!"

Krum's face also instantly became more gloomy.

"Sorry," he said to Scott, "I've always felt that a game is a game and nothing else should be mixed in."

Scott smiled, "Don't worry, this is a decision made by all members of the jury, including Professor Dumbledore."

"Next, let's invite three warriors to play!"

Mr. Jolly began to wail them out of the car.

"Let's go, don't be affected by what has happened."

Scott lifted the curtain of the carriage and jumped out of the carriage first.

With a flick of his wand, he sent his huge wine barrel flying towards him, and waved to the audience at Hogwarts where everyone was sitting.

It's not that his eyes are particularly good, but that his companions are holding a huge banner at this time, and he saw it at a glance.

[Scott Trollope! ]

[England Impaler! ]

[come on!victory! ]
These lines of big characters are shining on the blue banner.

After getting off the car, Fleur and Krum also saw the Hogwarts banner, and couldn't help giving Scott a strange look.

Scott shrugged, not caring about the bloody nickname.

At this time, Mr. Jolly standing in front of them said loudly again: "Next, let's invite the Warriors' partners for this round of competition!"

He held out his finger to the side.

Three huge rune horses walked over with graceful steps under the leadership of a wizard.

"They're the strongest horses in Pegasus Ranch!"

Mr. Jolly introduced to the audience.

"Mr. Trollope's partner, Pegasus!"

"Chosen by Mr. Krum, Chrysaor!"

"As beautiful as Mademoiselle Delacour, Hippocrini!"

Under the guidance of the wizard, the three rune horses came to the front of the three warriors and stopped.

Scott looked up at his partner, and confirmed through magic perception that this was indeed the horse he had chosen.

"Hi, Pegasus, I'm Scott."

Scott took the initiative to say hello to the horse.

Pegasus's watery red eyes looked at Scott, and his eyes were full of spirituality.

It seemed to be condescendingly looking at Scott, and had no intention of getting close to him.

Chrysaor and Hippocrini on the side did the same, looking at Krum and Fleur.

Mr. Jolly pushed the game forward, announcing loudly, "Now, the warriors will serve their partners with the wine they brewed themselves!"

Scott began to uncap the barrel.

"They can only please the horses with the best whiskey!"

Mr. Jolly kept talking.

"If the wine they brew is too bad, I'm afraid they will lose a partner who cooperates tacitly, and they will definitely be at a disadvantage in the next game!"

Scott lifted the barrel lid and took a step back.

"Please, Pegasus, this is what I have prepared for you."

He held out his hand to beckon Pegasus to drink.

Pegasus glanced at him, snorted, and slowly lowered his head.

It first sniffed the smell of the wine in the barrel lightly, and then carefully stretched out its tongue to lick the surface of the wine.

Scott watched its reaction carefully.

Pegasus snorted again and began to drink in big gulps.

well.

Scott laughed.

It seems that the wine brewed by myself is not bad.

He looked to the side again, and found that Chrysauer and Hippocrini did not refuse the whiskey made by Krum and Fleur.

This kind of performance made Scott wonder whether they were all successful in brewing wine, or were the three horses not picky?
"Oh well, none of the three brave men's wines were refused, so they all succeeded!" said Mr. Jolly. "Look, they all drank very well!"

Accompanied by the sound of grunting, it didn't take long for the three horses to finish drinking the single malt whiskey in the barrel and raise their heads one after another.

Pegasus snorted twice, looking at Scott without scrutiny, but quite calmly.

This made Scott wonder whether it was satisfied or not.

He tried to step forward, tentatively tiptoed and touched its neck.

Pegasus didn't refuse, but he didn't respond either.

Chrysaor on the side was the same, he didn't resist Krum's approach, but he didn't take the initiative to get close to him either.

Only Hippocrini lowered its huge head and gently rubbed against Fleur, almost knocking her down.

"It seems that Hippocrini liked Mademoiselle Delacour very much, which is a good omen!"

Mr. Jolly exclaimed excitedly.

"It seems that in this round of winemaking skills competition, Miss Delacour is the winner!"

Scott and Krum looked at each other, both a little helpless.

Whatever the reason, in short, this round started with Furong taking the lead.

"Warriors, please take the time to exchange feelings with your partners, the game is about to start!"

After Mr. Jolly said something, he hurried towards the high platform where the referee team was.

Scott simply recapped the huge wine barrel, stood on the barrel, and combed Pegasus's silver mane with his fingers.

Pegasus shook its big head, but still did not refuse.

"Hey, listen, Pegasus," said Scott, "it's my match against Krum and Fleur, and it's your match against Chrysaor and Hippocrini, and you don't want Lost to them, right?"

Pegasus glanced at Scott and snorted again.

Scott said to himself again: "It seems that I am right, Pegasus, you are the strongest horse here."

Pegasus raised his head.

"But other people probably don't know that," Scott continued. "You need to prove that you are the best, so that they have nothing to say."

Although his voice was not loud, he didn't deliberately lower it, and Krum next to him naturally heard it.

"Are you sure it understands English?" Krum said. "They're French horses."

Scott continued to comb Pegasus's mane, and responded, "Who knows, Pegasus is so smart, he must be able to understand, right?"

Pegasus shook his head as if to nod.

"Look, it can understand." Scott said happily to Krum.

Krum's face changed, and he also climbed up the wine barrel, and whispered in Chrysaor's ear.

He was speaking in Bulgarian, and Scott didn't understand what he was saying.

But Krysaor was obviously very dissatisfied with his behavior of whispering in her ear, so she shook her head vigorously and pushed Krum off the barrel.

Krum sat down on the grass, looked at Scott, who was getting closer to Pegasus, and Fleur, who was very close to Hippocrini, and his face became gloomy again.

"Be patient, Viktor," Scott said.

Krum nodded and got up from the ground.

Scott smiled and said nothing.

What he didn't tell Krum was that he was pretty sure Pegasus couldn't understand him.

The reason why they became close is actually the effect of magic.

Scott changed the frequency of his magic power fluctuations, making his magic power fluctuations approach Savannah's unique magic power fluctuations of Druids.

Although it can't be restored, just some similarities, coupled with the action of combing the mane, have already made Pegasus willing to get close to him.

"Gentlemen and ladies, the game is about to begin!"

Mr. Jolly climbed up the platform and started his game commentary again.

"Warriors, tell me, are you ready?"

Scott and the three of them nodded.

"Very good, I will officially announce the specific content of this competition! Please watch!"

As his voice fell, a spray of water mist suddenly sprayed out from the center of the pasture.

The white water mist accumulated thicker and denser clouds soon formed.

Immediately afterwards, a fairly clear picture appeared in the huge cloud that gathered together——

It's like an old movie, a bit fuzzy but watchable.

The picture shows the picture in the sky above the clouds.

Above is the endless blue sky, and below is the endless sea of ​​white clouds.

Countless metal cubes are quietly floating in the air. These cubes are neatly arranged in three rows, each row has fifteen.

At the end of the queue of cubes were three huge metal rings, also floating motionless.

Looking at this picture, the audience began to discuss, full of curiosity about the format of the game.

Scott also squinted his eyes, and turned to look at the high platform where the referee team was.

"See clearly? This is the high-altitude track specially prepared for this round of competition!"

Mr. Jolly's voice was full of passion.

"The three warriors will start from the starting point of the track, and the goal is to pass the ring at the finish line at the fastest speed!"

"Of course, our competition is not that simple. In order to increase the difficulty, we also set some restrictions."

"Please listen up, three warriors!"

"First, you need both the warrior and your partner to pass the ring to reach the finish line!"

"Second, after entering the track, the warriors must not stay on the rune horse for more than 10 seconds, otherwise this round will be 0 points!"

"Third, disapparation and Animagus are prohibited for this round! Any magic items are prohibited!"

While speaking, Mr. Jolly stood on a metal cube of the same style as Gaokong.

The cube levitated, rising straight up, carrying him mid-air.

Everyone looked up at him.

With Mr. Jolly as a comparison, Scott also had an idea of ​​the size of the cube.

This was obviously designed as a high-altitude foothold, but it was actually very small, just enough for one person to stand on it. If you didn't balance well, you might fall down.

"The restrictions are over, and the next step is good news, warriors."

His voice still spread throughout the audience.

"See the box under my feet? This is where you end up."

"Don't worry about safety. When you fall from the box, your partner will definitely catch you. Of course, please remember the 10-second limit."

"Oh, it's not all good news. There are hidden traps in everyone's track. Among the fifteen boxes, three will trigger the imprisonment effect the moment you step on it."

"Confinement time, 5 seconds!"

"Anyway, good luck!"

After listening to the entire game precautions, Scott has a bottom line in his mind.

This round of competition is too favorable for him!
No wonder Dumbledore didn't object to the proposal to disable Animagus.

He doesn't even know how to lose!
"Next, let's go up to the sky together, oh yes, I will go up to accompany you!"

Scott looked at the cube that suddenly appeared in front of him, and raised his feet to stand on it.

"Let's go, conquer the sky, warriors! Let's go!"

Following Mr. Jolly's order, the cube under Scott's feet began to rise at a constant speed.

When the cube rises, it is very stable without any bumps. As long as the psychological quality passes the test, there will be no danger of falling.

"Go, Pegasus!"

Scott greeted and waved at the same time.

Pegasus let out a neigh, spread his wings and flew up.

Immediately afterwards, Chrysaor and Hippocrini also took off.

Their huge wings set off a strong wind, and Fu Rong screamed immediately, almost being blown off by the wind.

Scott was startled, too, but he soon sensed that the cube under his feet was unaffected, and he steadied himself.

Partner?
Scott watched the flying horse.

Or maybe it was a trick.

Perhaps aware of their influence, the three clever horses flew a little farther.

Scott rose with the cube under his feet, and soon reached the same height as the audience sitting in the stands.

"Scott! Come on!"

"You're the best!"

Everyone in Hogwarts watching him was shouting in unison.

Scott smiled and waved to them again, making a victory sign.

Soon, the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, not to be outdone, also shouted.

Occupying an absolute advantage in numbers, the voices of Beauxbaton's students shouting Fleur's name quickly overwhelmed the others.

As the altitude continued to increase, those sounds became farther and farther away.

Scott looked up.

"Attention, the next step is to accelerate!"

Shouted Mr. Jolly, who had lifted off with them.

Scott noticed that a magic barrier rose around the edges of the cube under his feet, wrapped his whole body, and fixed it on the cube.

"This kind of good feeling of security is only available now!"

Mr. Jolly still did not forget to speak.

Immediately afterwards, a strong thrust came from under Scott's feet, and he felt as if he was riding a rocket and was rising rapidly.

It didn't take long for them to approach the white clouds high in the sky.

After entering the clouds, Scott lost his vision, surrounded by a vast expanse of whiteness, and could only hear the faint screams belonging to Fleur.

But soon, he passed through the clouds again and came to the sea of ​​clouds.

The thrust under their feet weakened until they stopped, and they came to the high-altitude track.

The cubes no longer rise, but start to move in parallel, bringing them to their respective tracks.

(End of this chapter)