Chapter 13: The Secret Hidden in the Restricted Section

"Come on, just sit down, no need to be so formal." Hagrid placed a tray of rock cakes on the table, then plopped himself down into a chair. The wooden frame creaked under his weight, making Ivan and the others look a bit concerned. Fortunately, the chair held up well and stubbornly supported its load.

"This is Ron, and this is Hermione," Harry said as he pointed to the others after sitting down. But before Harry could finish his introductions, Ivan stood up.

"Hello, Hagrid, I'm Ivan. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Oh, likewise," Hagrid said, extending his large hand for a handshake. The difference in their sizes made the gesture appear somewhat comical.

Meanwhile, Hagrid's big dog, Fang, was prancing around Ron, occasionally jumping up to slobber all over him.

The moment Fang leaped toward him, Ron quickly hid his rat Scabbers in his pocket. Although he'd never heard of dogs eating rats, recent events had made him increasingly paranoid, as if someone was scheming to harm his rat.

Harry and Ron soon started venting to Hagrid, complaining about Snape's deliberate targeting of them in class. Hermione listened, frowning but saying nothing in response.

Ivan didn't join the conversation. Though Snape may have had a strong dislike for Harry and a bias against Gryffindor students, there was no issue with his teaching. Many of the potion recipes were ones that Snape himself had improved.

Especially surprising was that Snape had given Ivan an "Excellent" on his first potions class, which made Ivan reluctant to complain about him. Of course, it would have been even better if Snape could provide more exercises during lessons.

"Gringotts robbed?" As Ivan was growing bored and wondering how hard Hagrid's rock cakes really were, a newspaper on the teapot caught his attention.

Harry and Ron, who were chatting, stopped and leaned over to read the paper. The headline read that on the evening of July 31st, Gringotts had been robbed in a major heist. Authorities suspected it was the work of dark witches or wizards, but the goblins at Gringotts insisted nothing had been stolen.

"July 31st," Harry suddenly exclaimed, as if recalling something. "Hagrid, that's my birthday, and we were there that night!"

"Really?" Hagrid mumbled, avoiding eye contact with Harry. The conversation shifted awkwardly to the rock cakes, and Hagrid eagerly invited everyone to eat more.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were struggling to chew the cakes, which were as hard as bricks, almost breaking their teeth. But seeing Hagrid's eager face, they couldn't bring themselves to throw them away.

Ivan secretly dipped the rock cakes into his tea to soften them and managed to eat half a piece.

When they were about to leave, Hagrid continued his enthusiastic hospitality, stuffing more rock cakes into everyone's pockets, even though they didn't want any.

The four of them walked back to the castle together but soon split up at the stairs. Harry and Ron headed to the dormitory, while Ivan took the opportunity to search for the Room of Requirement.

In his previous experiments, Ivan had discovered that no matter how vast one's knowledge was, without practical experience, the growth of skill could stagnate.

His search continued until Tuesday morning of the second week, when he finally found some clues on the eighth floor of the castle.

It was a wide corridor filled with portraits, and at the end of it was a tapestry depicting a giant beating a hapless troll.

Ivan walked to the wall opposite the tapestry, concentrated, and after pacing back and forth three times toward the desired training area, a door suddenly appeared on the previously smooth wall.

The door was flush with the wall, without a seam, as though it had always been there.

Ivan pushed the door open, his heart racing with excitement. As he entered, the door shut automatically behind him. Inside was a large training area, brightly lit with dummies set up along both sides, designed for practicing spells.

[Ding, discovered a mysterious place, the Room of Requirement.]

The voice in Ivan's mind was expected, but the task progress had increased by three percent, which was a surprise.

The library, which stored knowledge for inheritance, had only increased his progress by five points, making this place incredibly important.

"Dividens!" After warming up, Ivan swung his wand to practice the spells he had learned.

White light shot out and struck the dummy. With a "bang," one of its arms exploded, sending wooden shards flying, which Ivan quickly repaired with a Reparo spell.

For the next half-hour, various colored lights flashed through the training room, as Ivan practiced Transformation, Petrification, Wingardium Leviosa, Lumos, and other spells.

After nearly two weeks of intense study, Ivan had mastered most of the basic spells. Though his skill level wasn't very high, he had at least brought everything up to a basic level where they weren't unreliable anymore.

However, during his first real practice, Ivan quickly noticed that his spell accuracy was worrying. Fixed targets were fine, but with moving targets, he missed most of the time.

In an attempt to improve, Ivan tried using a "Top Student Experience Card" during his practice and found that it worked during actual combat training as well.

The enhanced brain comprehension and analysis speed made Ivan faster and more accurate when casting spells, greatly improving his accuracy. He could even predict the movement of distant targets and the trajectory of the spell.

As a result, though his spell levels remained the same, his performance with the Experience Card was much higher than usual.

"I've gotten dumber, but also stronger."

Ivan sighed as he exited the Experience Mode. After each use, the decrease in his brain's processing ability made him feel as if he had become less intelligent.

After practicing all morning, Ivan was feeling drained, and his magical energy was nearly depleted. Considering the flying lesson in the afternoon, Ivan took a short break before leaving the Room of Requirement. He found a secret passage on the eighth floor, a path he had never taken, and decided to use it to head back to the Hogwarts Great Hall.

As soon as Ivan stepped out of the secret passage, the familiar system prompt sounded again.

[Ding, discovered an unknown secret passage, Hogwarts exploration progress has reached 40%.] 

Reward: 20 Achievement Points 

Additional Reward: Please collect your reward from the twelfth shelf in row seven of the Restricted Section between 11 PM and 1 AM.