Eda was unaware of the conversation happening in the headmaster's office, nor did she know that McGonagall was just playing along with her act.
She also didn't realize that the tabby cat she had fed was actually the stern-looking Professor McGonagall.
Feeling rather pleased with her performance, Eda lay comfortably on her bed and drifted into a deep sleep, dreaming of herself heroically defeating the savior and trampling on Voldemort, exuding power and majesty.
The morning sunlight filled the entire room, and Eda was already up.
She gathered her toiletries and went to freshen up, making sure her appearance was neat.
She then changed into her usual outfit of a shirt and jeans and walked briskly to the dining hall.
Breakfast at the orphanage was not elaborate: bread with jam, a simple meal.
At times like this, Esmeralda missed her past immensely, recalling the lavish breakfasts of soy milk, deep-fried dough sticks, and steamed buns.
Esmeralda ate her breakfast slowly, taking small bites. It was said that chewing more could increase the feeling of fullness and aid in weight loss.
However, she wasn't concerned with losing weight; she simply didn't like the food and couldn't swallow it down. Eating was merely a way to stave off her hunger.
The other children at the table sat far away from Esmeralda.
They were afraid of her, not only because of the fear of being beaten but also because of her rumored abilities.
The children here matured quickly and were very pragmatic. They knew well what could be done, what couldn't, whom they could provoke, and whom they shouldn't.
After finishing her meal, Esmeralda returned directly to her room, locked the door, opened the window, and waited for her deliveries.
The items she had bought in Diagon Alley yesterday would be delivered by owls today.
Esmeralda finally understood why so many people in her previous life loved online shopping.
Even though you knew exactly what you had ordered, the anticipation of waiting for a package and the excitement of receiving it was something one couldn't easily give up.
Fortunately, the wait didn't last long, and diligent owls soon started delivering her items one by one. Regardless of Esmeralda's excitement at receiving her packages, the other children in the orphanage were quite unsettled.
The constant coming and going of owls frightened them, reinforcing their belief that Esmeralda was indeed a strange creature who played with owls.
While Esmeralda was busy unboxing her deliveries, the system made another appearance.
[Ding!]
[A new subject has been unlocked. Please check it out promptly!]
Esmeralda opened the system interface:
[Charms (Current progress: 0. More than a wand, what the host needs is a stick to be beaten up for her incompetence!)
Transfiguration (Current progress: 0. Instead of transforming others, the host is more suitable to be transformed into a frog and hide her pathetic self in a corner!)
Potions (Current progress: 0. Host, time to drink your medicine for failure management!)
History of Magic (Current progress: 0. Give you a pen during exams, and you'll create history! Quite literally, as you don't know shit and will have to 'create' some BS for the exam.)
Care of Magical Creatures (Current progress: 0. Host's knowledge of magical creatures can be compared to a beautiful clean sheet of paper. Both are blank.)
Herbology (Current progress: 0. This host is a pathetic seed, hope to harvest it to a diligent one next year.)
Dark Arts and Defense Against the Dark Arts (Current progress: 0. Neither black nor white suits you, huh? No favorite color?)
Eda silently read the system's evaluation.
"Damn... that's some serious roasting skills.."
Despite having only interacted with it for two days, she had already gotten used to it.
She considered it a form of encouragement.
She looked at the so-called progress indicators and decided to experiment a bit.
Esmeralda first took out "The Standard Book of Spells" and began reading. She noticed that the progress bar increased, albeit slightly, but it did indeed increase.
However, this progress bar was somewhat perplexing. It would improve with her reading and studying, but there were no numerical or percentage indicators—only a visual estimate.
The spell she had just read about appeared in the system with a [Learned] tag, along with a proficiency progress bar. This meant Esmeralda could quickly learn a spell, but mastering it would require much more practice.
Esmeralda checked her other textbooks, and the results were similar to Charms.
It seemed that the subject progress was more oriented towards theoretical knowledge, which she could enhance through reading and thinking, whereas proficiency was more about practical application—casting spells, brewing potions, or tending to magical plants.
"What a pity..." Esmeralda sighed, holding her wand. She felt like a hero without a battlefield.
Professor McGonagall had told Esmeralda that using magic outside of school was not allowed, as it was forbidden by both the Ministry of Magic and the school. Without systematic training in magic, attempting to cast spells privately was dangerous and could risk exposing the wizarding world, causing unnecessary trouble.
To prevent underage wizards from using magic outside of school, the Ministry of Magic had established the "Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery" and implemented the "Trace" to monitor any magical activity by young wizards outside school.
Since the "Trace" specifically targeted young wizards, it wasn't fully functional—it could only monitor magical activity within a certain range but couldn't identify the exact caster.
For Muggle-born wizards like Esmeralda, the "Trace" was particularly effective, as any magical activity detected in a non-magical household would naturally be attributed to the young wizard in the family.
For children from wizarding families, the Trace loses its effectiveness entirely. Life in a wizarding family is filled with magic, so the Trace, which can only monitor but not differentiate, becomes meaningless. Such young wizards are usually restricted by their parents.
It seemed Esmeralda had no choice but to earnestly study, which only reinforced the system's evaluation of her as having very poor practical skills.
[Ding! System reminder: The host has not officially enrolled, so the Trace is not yet in place.]
[The system can temporarily shield the host from any magical detection and allow normal practice. ]
[However, please avoid casting spells in front of Muggles to prevent uncontrollable situations!]
That's fantastic! There is still true love in this world!
Now Esmeralda could practice some simple spells! No more being all talk and no action.
"Lumos!" Esmeralda whispered, and a beam of light emitted from the tip of her wand.
"Success!"
She ended the Lumos spell and cast it again. This time, using more magic, the light at the tip of her wand became even brighter.
Esmeralda set down her wand and checked the system.
Sure enough, the proficiency bar for the Lumos spell had significantly increased.
It seemed that the Lumos spell, being simple and commonly used in daily life, gained proficiency quickly.
Of course, this was just Esmeralda's theory and would require extensive testing to confirm.
As the proficiency of the Lumos spell increased, the progress in Charms also saw some improvement.
Clearly, advancing required a well-rounded approach, integrating both theoretical knowledge and practical application.
Esmeralda continued casting Lumos a few more times, and after significantly enhancing her proficiency, she began experimenting with other spells.
She noticed that some spells increased the progress bar more than others, and the rate of increase varied.
Esmeralda had mastered the Lumos spell so well that her wand tip resembled a tiny sun. In her mind, she pictured a great wizard.
So, should a wizard cast a lighting spell and then wield a great sword in close combat? Is a wizard supposed to be a berserker, with both strength and speed at A-rank?
Wait, where can she buy a great sword? Would Gryffindor's Sword work? Asking online, urgent...
Although Esmeralda didn't remember much about "Harry Potter," she knew the basics of what a wizard should be like. Even if she hadn't eaten pork, she'd seen pigs run.
Wizards are supposed to be a ranged class. If she abandoned her role as a mage to engage in close combat, the result would be disastrous. That's just reckless!
Having been reincarnated, Esmeralda didn't want to die again, especially not in a foolish charge. She wanted to be a ranged fighter, blasting spells from a distance, a wizard with a "Gatling gun" of green fire spells.
Her small desk was completely covered with the textbooks she would need for the upcoming school year.
Esmeralda decided that until school started, she would do nothing but read and practice. After all, the holiday time left was not only insufficient, but there was no way to get more. The time she had left was limited.
Esmeralda set a preliminary goal for herself: to preview all the first-year textbooks and memorize the key points.
This wasn't going to be easy, but Esmeralda wasn't someone who gave up easily.
Even in her previous life, lying on a cold hospital bed, she never gave up. Why would she now?
All her efforts were to escape hardship and live better; all her work was to survive the dangers of the future.