Chapter 15: Refinements

In a cozy little room, a small figure cloaked in black sat cross-legged in the center. Surrounding him was a meticulously arranged circle of materials, both metallic and non-metallic, all shimmering with an otherworldly glow. Not far away, a massive black panel, five meters long and four meters high, stood firmly in place.

On his left hand, Glenn wore a black glove, his fingers slightly curled as he held an indistinct, glowing object. The object continuously shifted its shape, melting and reforming, while threads of black energy from the surrounding air intertwined and merged into it before dissipating.

Some of the materials around him separated from the pile, melting into liquid streams. These streams spiraled around Glenn, guided by the flow of his magic, before being absorbed into the object in his gloved hand.

Glenn had discovered that using the Hand of Sorcery to craft small magical artifacts was incredibly efficient. The dexterity of the Hand of Sorcery allowed for precise adjustments to the external design and internal magical circuits of alchemical devices—something a wand simply couldn't achieve. This had significantly improved both the speed and quality of his work on the Dueling Club badges.

Twice the results with half the effort.

With this realization, Glenn decided to change his plans and craft additional sets of Dueling Club badges—a little extra effort to "profit" off Dumbledore's request.

"Transmission circuits, display circuits, identification functions, defense modules…" Glenn muttered as his left hand moved deftly, channeling magic and alchemical techniques to inscribe alchemical patterns and integrate devices into the badge.

"Connect to the leaderboard." A short while later, Glenn's movements ceased. In his hand was a sleek, silver badge, its craftsmanship exquisite. Glenn pinned it to his chest and slowly infused it with his magic.

Every wizard's magical signature was unique, just like no two snowflakes were alike. Lin Yingqing had once taught Glenn that using magical attributes as a form of identity verification was both effective and common.

The Dueling Club badges Glenn crafted would use this principle to identify their users. Infusing one's magic into the badge was akin to entering a password, linking the badge to the leaderboard. Only then could the results of a wizard's duels—victories and defeats—be recorded in the system designed for the Dueling Club, updating rankings and win rates. Without this step, the results would be invalid.

The black panel in the room flickered faintly, emitting a crisp sound. A blank avatar, along with fields for inputting a name, ranking, win rate, and number of matches, appeared at the top of the leaderboard displayed on the panel.

This was Glenn's entry, as he was currently the only one connected to the Dueling Club system.

"Is it working? Did it succeed?" Hermione's voice came from behind him.

The little girl had been lounging on the sofa with a book. Hearing the commotion, she turned around, propping herself up on the sofa to look at the leaderboard with bright eyes.

"Hmm, Shield Charm system is stable, connection is stable, data input…" Glenn murmured as he focused his mind. He transmitted the information he wanted to display on the leaderboard through the badge. There was no delay; the blank name field in Glenn's entry was promptly filled with his name. "…Stable. It's ready to use."

Removing the badge from his chest, he tossed it to Hermione. She caught it eagerly and quickly pinned it to her own chest.

A new blank entry appeared below Glenn's on the leaderboard.

Hermione had successfully connected her badge to the system as well.

"How do I set my name and upload an avatar?" Hermione asked, her excitement evident as she saw her entry appear on the black screen. She wasn't sure how to modify her displayed information and immediately turned to Glenn for guidance.

"Imagine the name and avatar you want to upload in your mind and channel your magic into the badge," Glenn explained.

The little girl nodded and immediately focused, concentrating on modifying her personal information. Soon, her entry on the leaderboard displayed the name "Hermione Granger," which quickly changed to "Glenn Hawthorne." However, Glenn's name only appeared for a brief moment before disappearing.

"The leaderboard doesn't allow duplicate names," Glenn reminded her.

"Oh, I see." Hermione nodded and resumed her contemplation.

Her entry's name changed again, this time to "Little Glenn." This name stayed, indicating that the system had accepted the modification.

Clearly, the naming system didn't restrict young wizards from choosing all sorts of creative names. Titles like "The Legend of Litang's Fiercest Tiger! Pure-hearted Ding Ichiro," "The Basketball Chicken! Trainee Cai Ichiro," "87-Year-Old Climbing the Ranks," or "The Dream of a Billion Boys" wouldn't be prohibited.

As long as you had the confidence to flaunt such names, the system wouldn't stop you.

The little girl happily cycled through one name after another. When she finally grew tired, she settled on "Crookshanks" as her display name.

However, she noticed something odd: no matter how she imagined her avatar, the image that appeared on the leaderboard didn't quite match her expectations. It felt… off.

Hermione shared her confusion with Glenn, who immediately understood and explained.

"The correct method is to look at the avatar space on the leaderboard while imagining and fine-tuning the image. Simply relying on your thoughts without any external reference makes it difficult to recreate or construct the picture accurately."

Hermione nodded and followed Glenn's advice. Sure enough, she successfully made the image of her avatar clearer and more detailed.

"Alright, it's decided—Crookshanks!" Since her current display name was Crookshanks, she decided to go with a chibi version of Crookshanks for her avatar.

Emmm… The little girl had briefly considered using a name like "Glenn's Girlfriend" and even thought about uploading Glenn's image as her avatar. But after some thought, she decided against it. She felt a bit shy.

Hermione blushing.

Crookshanks: ?

So… does love just disappear?

Having successfully set her name to "Crookshanks," Hermione concentrated on refining her avatar. Soon, the image on the leaderboard displayed an adorable chibi version of Crookshanks. Its once odd, pancake-like face now looked endearingly silly and cute, licking its paw as it gazed forward.

"And that's done." Hermione closed her eyes and gently massaged her temples. Constantly changing her personal information had been quite draining. "Glenn, does it look like Crookshanks?"

Glenn nodded. The little girl's artistic talent was quite impressive. She had taken art classes in primary school and even won awards. The chibi Crookshanks she imagined was undeniably cute, with a charm that made even its oddities endearing.

Satisfied with Glenn's approval, Hermione beamed. "Next time, let me help you upload your avatar too!"

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