The dinner ended in a thick atmosphere of speculation. Tom returned to his dormitory, dragging his exhausted body, and lay down on his bed after washing up.
Tom quietly waited for midnight to arrive, and then he fell asleep. When he woke up, the first rays of morning sunlight were already shining on his face. He felt like he had forgotten something, but after a while, he remembered: today was the UP Pool opening day!
Today, he could summon Dumbledore!
Although he wasn't sure what Dumbledore could offer him, it was worth a try. After all, Dumbledore was one of the most powerful wizards in the world.
So, Tom opened the system's wishing interface and saw the UP Pool dedicated to Dumbledore. In the promotional image, Dumbledore was holding up one hand and seemed to be chanting something, with the words "Bathing in Flames and Singing Like a Phoenix" next to him. Below were the options "Initiate Wishing" and "Character Activity Wish."
This time, the activity pool was different from the regular pool. Tom needed to exchange his Magic Stones for something called "Entangled Fate" to summon characters. The price for Entangled Fate hadn't increased, still 160 Magic Stones each.
Tom knew exactly what to do and exchanged 79 Entangled Fates, totaling 80 after adding the ones he received from previous tasks. However, he held on to a glimmer of hope.
"Alright, my hair is a mess in the morning, so let's start drawing cards!" Tom didn't waste time and immediately began drawing.
"My turn, draw a card!"
"Middle result!"
Nine blues and one purple, nine trash items and one Fragment of Silence.
"Next!"
Nine blues and one purple again, this time a scroll of Flame Spell, which was his second duplicate. The system informed him that duplicates could be directly converted into 100 experience points when leveling up.
"I have a feeling; it's coming on the next one, hmm—ah..."
Once again, it was purple and blue, but this time it was slightly better: two four-star items, one Fragment of Silence, and one Fragment of Casting Without a Wand.
Tom had become numb to the process. He clicked the draw button over and over, and quickly he had drawn 60 times, yielding three Fragments of Casting Without a Wand, two Fragments of Silence, two Fragments of Illusion, and another duplicate scroll of Flame Spell.
Tom could only console himself. Eight four-star items from 60 draws weren't too bad.
Afterward, he changed his strategy and began drawing one by one, thinking that perhaps he would have better luck this way.
By the time he reached the 63rd draw...
Gold? Was that gold? Damn!
Tom couldn't believe his eyes. This time, he hadn't reached the pity timer! He had drawn a five-star character on the 63rd try, which was practically perfect.
"I am the great Divination Master—Sybill Trelawney!"
Tom couldn't believe his eyes. He felt like his system might have encountered a severe bug. This was Dumbledore's UP Pool, right? Why did Professor Trelawney appear again?
Seeing his Divination talent reach 3 points, Tom was quite surprised. The evaluation in parentheses even said "Innate Talent." To put things into perspective, a 3-point score in Charms was considered average, and an Innate Talent score was something to be envious of. Even Herbology, which also had an Innate Talent evaluation for 3 points, required 5 points in the talent to be considered an Innate Talent.
However, this indicated that the vast majority of people had no talent for Divination, making a 3-point talent worthy of the Innate Talent label. Talent evaluations probably ranged from no talent, passable, average, Innate Talent, and perhaps something higher, like "Azkaban." But that might be more of a special title.
To be honest, this talent was quite useful. The accompanying Insight skill was handy in daily life. Of course, sometimes the saying "A word to the wise is enough" didn't apply, as insight provided warnings, but if you misjudged the situation, there wasn't much you could do.
Tom regained his composure and continued drawing. This time, he used a total of 86 draws before finally summoning Dumbledore. When he saw the golden light, two tears welled up in Tom's eyes. It was so unfortunate! He had already triggered the small pity timer, yet the big pity timer required a full 80 draws! This system seemed to be taking advantage of its lack of competition, with no uninstall button in the interface, and bullying the unfortunate souls who had reached the pity limit.
But what could he do? He had already spent all his Magic Stones, and there was no refund option like on iOS. Tom could only watch as his account balance decreased by 23,680 Magic Stones. His current Magic Stone balance was now less than 30,000.
He had no intention of continuing to draw because he suspected that a character more suitable for him might be introduced at the end of term.
Nevertheless, with a total of 149 draws, he still made some gains. Tom miraculously obtained seven Fragments of Casting Without a Wand, successfully synthesizing the five-star spell "Casting Without a Wand."
"Casting Without a Wand: The ability to cast magic without using a wand. Using this technique increases the difficulty of spellcasting, and if not executed accurately, it can lead to unexpected consequences. Therefore, only highly skilled wizards can master this technique. When using a spell with this technique, the skill level decreases by one, and the success rate equals proficiency. Currently, no Casting Without a Wand spells are available."
This was a major breakthrough for Tom. Although he now had the ability, he didn't have any spells to use it with. He would need to improve his proficiency by practicing and breaking through the skill's level to cast spells without a wand effectively.
In addition to this skill, Tom also obtained great benefits from Dumbledore. He directly increased Tom's talents by 2 points: Transfiguration talent +1, now at 5 points, and he unlocked the talent of Alchemy. In the magic theory section, a grayed-out line of text appeared: "Alchemy Level 0 (???)," suggesting that Tom could unlock it by studying alchemical books.
This was a significant advantage because Hogwarts didn't offer any alchemy courses. To activate Alchemy, one would have to seek an "adventure" and take on an apprenticeship. However, with a recommendation letter from Dumbledore, the probability of triggering the "adventure" would likely double. Tom could now attempt to learn it on his own.
Friday morning had no classes, so Tom planned to spend some time in the library, looking for books on magical creatures. After quickly washing up and changing into a new set of clothes, he entered the common room. His old clothes were simply placed in the laundry hamper, and the house-elves of Hogwarts would take them to be cleaned.
In the common room, Tom encountered Hermione, who was heading downstairs for breakfast. She was wearing a wizard's robe on the outside but had a blue collared shirt underneath, which seemed to be made of denim-like fabric.
"Good morning. Are you going to the library?" Tom greeted Hermione and invited her to join him on a trip to the library.
"Sure, I think we should find some books on magical creatures. After all, we still have that detention looming over us," Hermione replied, and when it came to books, she had seemingly endless things to say.
The two of them hastily grabbed a bite to eat in the Great Hall and then made their way to the library.
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(End of this chapter)