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From June to November, the Atlantic Ocean's waves are at their wildest. Now, imagine if someone told you that, in early July, a group of teens with no sailing experience were setting out across that vast ocean in a boat they assembled in just two hours. Wouldn't you think they were on a reckless journey flirting with death?
No compass, no GPS, no seasoned sailors—these passionate youths, led by a boy sporting a pirate's tricorn hat, set sail into the unknown.
They left their families behind, packed their bags, and embarked on a grand expedition without a second thought.
Yes, this wasn't a field trip; it was a team-building expedition in every sense.
For days before break, Harry racked his brain, searching for the perfect location. He had half a mind to organize a "Call of Duty: Wizard Wars" experience. While the world was generally at peace, wars still raged daily in certain regions. However, the Statute of Secrecy made joining a Muggle battlefield for an experience of dodging bullets and lasers impossible.
Besides, using magic against Muggles would be far too unfair.
The protective spells wizards use, like enchanted armor, offer strong defense against magic and kinetic energy alike. In a world without gunpowder weapons, the closest things to kinetic weapons are electromagnetic cannons and railguns. Yet, these are outrageously expensive—even the smallest nations currently at war can't afford them. A single AK-47-style electromagnetic rifle costs over twenty-five times the price of a standard pulse laser weapon. Although considered the most affordable and reliable of its kind, it's all relative.
Before laser weapons were invented, makeshift electric stun guns could be easily constructed. Find a high-capacity storage crystal in a mine, place it in a hollowed-out stick lined with metal wire, and connect it with a trigger mechanism and small battery crystal. Voilà—a crude, handheld stun gun. The electric current would frizz the user's hair and deliver a shocking jolt, dropping any carbon-based life within a two-meter range.
Killing someone might be hard, but dropping them to the ground in a few seconds was guaranteed.
For this reason, wizards developed spells to counter Muggle weapons: insulation against electricity, deflection against lasers. Even standing stock-still, a fully warded wizard could withstand fire from an entire battalion without a scratch—assuming they weren't caught and forced into close combat. In that case, it might be a different story.
Indeed, magic's overwhelming superiority over the physical world is borderline excessive.
With Muggle battlefields out of the question, Harry had to find an alternative, so he approached Professor Grindelwald—a kindred spirit, revered and (in)famous. Between packing his bags and trying to brush Harry off, Grindelwald reluctantly mentioned a suitable spot he deemed "playground material" for youngsters: an ancient battleground located on an island in the Atlantic known as Paradise Island.
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"Cedric, when do you think we'll reach Paradise Island?"
Exhausted from swimming in the luxury pool on deck, Cho leaned against the edge, resting her chin on her hands, as Cedric approached with a towel and drink.
As one of the few female members of the battle group, she had proven herself resilient. Out of the original thirty-plus recruits, half had already dropped out. Several of the brawny Slytherin boys had, too, complaining all the while. Physical strength didn't necessarily mean strong will, and while the training wasn't set to push them to their limits, it certainly wasn't easy.
"Probably tomorrow morning or midday. I checked with the captain; it should be around then," Cedric replied, offering her a hand to help her up. As she rose, water droplets highlighted the toned muscles along her torso, causing Cedric to glance away quickly, handing her a large towel with gentlemanly poise.
Cho, sporting short, just-above-the-shoulders hair, radiated a spirited charm. Her sun-kissed skin glowed with vitality, and the consistent strength training had given her beautifully defined muscles—elegantly fierce, like a graceful panther, not sharply defined like a boy's.
Her first real interaction with Cedric had been during one of Harry's combat training sessions, where she'd pinned a hesitant Cedric to the ground in a cross armbar, immobilizing him. It had been slightly embarrassing then, but ever since, Cedric had attended the sessions with renewed enthusiasm, a smile never far from his face.
"Paradise Island, huh? Sounds lovely, but… why do I feel a little uneasy about it?" Cho mumbled, sipping juice through a straw, her cheeks puffed out. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but something feels… strange."
"Is this really just a team retreat?"
Cho glanced over the deck, which was piled high with various foods and peculiar gadgets for entertainment. A crowd had gathered around the Weasley twins, who were causing a ruckus in front of a Muggle device called a television. The boys cheered and laughed as they watched the twins, now experts at using the controller, who were frantically controlling a squirrel to sabotage their teammates. What should have been a cooperative game had devolved into a chaotic contest of tricks and backstabbing.
The young wizards, who had never experienced Muggle games before, were utterly captivated. In just a few hours, they had become enslaved by video games. Normally, the powerful magical field would interfere with Muggle electronics, but this temporary magical ship was immune, lacking the usual magical wards, and they were only staying a short time.
"I feel like the captain wouldn't be so generous for no reason," Cho muttered.
Cedric gave a strained laugh and cast a sideways glance over the ocean, where a large head had suddenly emerged, along with a wide plume of blood in the water.
"Look what I caught!"
Harry's booming voice carried across the deck, and the group, abandoning the TV, rushed to the railing. They whipped out their wands from the holsters strapped to their legs, and several Levitation Charms were cast to help Harry lift himself slightly above the waves.
"I tore apart a shark!"
The culprit behind the bloodied waters was revealed—a massive, six-meter-long shark, hoisted aloft by Harry in one hand. Its razor-sharp teeth hadn't even scratched his palm. Harry had simply grasped the shark by its jaws and ripped it nearly in two, leaving the once-feared predator very much deceased.
"Is that the best you've got, with those weak charms?" Harry called out in mock disappointment, unable to fully rise above the water.
The others rolled their eyes. "Captain, just put the fish down already!"
The six-meter shark weighed nearly three tons, and lifting it with only a few Levitation Charms was no small feat. Seeing he was about to be surrounded by a dozen drawn wands, Harry waved them off. "Stand back, I'll just toss it up!"
With a powerful punch into the sea, a jet of water erupted high into the air. Using the momentum, Harry's right arm flexed, and he flung the blood-drenched creature several meters into the air. The shark soared in a heavy arc and landed with a crash on the deck, which seemed far too flimsy for such a load.
"Aaaaaah!"
Two loud screams echoed as the shark slammed down.
"Captain!" Fred and George's anguished voices rose above the splashes.
"We were so close to beating the level!"
"Why'd the TV suddenly black out and start smoking?"
Climbing back onto the deck with a casual flip, Harry took one look at the smoking TV and shrugged. "Water damage, short-circuited. What else?"
"Scourgify!"
"Reparo!"
In an instant, the TV was back in perfect working order. While a strong magical field might usually interfere with Muggle electronics, it didn't prevent wizards from repairing household appliances. Unfortunately, all the save data was gone, and the retro game console the twins were playing didn't have an auto-save feature. With sighs of disappointment, they set down their controllers and joined the crowd inspecting the shark.
"Do you think shark meat tastes good?" one of the twins asked, visibly intrigued.
"Captain, ripping that thing apart barehanded? You're starting to seem less and less human," George said with a mixture of awe and apprehension.
"Thanks for the compliment." Harry grinned. "But this superhuman boost only lasts two months—the potion wears off. Real strength is built up bit by bit. Once you master magical body strengthening, you'll be able to do it too."
!!!
Dozens of eyes locked onto Harry. Everyone knew the purpose of this team retreat wasn't just to lounge on sunny beaches and indulge in good food. But none of them had anticipated that the true goal would be this intense.
"So, that means—!"
Wood's eyes burned with excitement as he stared at Harry.
"We'll be able to… use that move too, right?"
"To punch with a ton or two of force and withstand winds blowing at over 400 kilometers per hour?"
Harry tilted his chin toward Wood. "And even faster, as long as the new broom can handle it."
"Are you seriously satisfied with just an ordinary school Quidditch match?" Harry's grin widened. "I've bought the Falmouth Falcons. In three years, the Quidditch World Cup awaits—who wants in?"
The team members weren't just warriors; they were also Quidditch players, and every one of them had joined this team with the hope of growing stronger. They wanted the power to compete with Harry on the field, and each one had an undeniable passion for Quidditch. The World Cup was the most glamorous and prestigious stage they could ever dream of.
"As long as you keep training with me, pushing your limits, will winning the European Cup to get a spot in the World Cup really be that hard?"
"We've got three years—a prime three years of our youth. Every minute and every second, we're transforming. Time will measure our effort and our results."
"Those who dropped out are going to regret it!"
Overwhelmed with excitement, Wood felt like he could almost plant a big kiss on Harry's cheek. But his survival instincts quickly overrode the impulse—he knew that trying something that foolish would earn him a one-way ticket to a disgusting recovery potion.
"But… what about them?"
Amidst the group's ecstatic chatter, Cho's question caught Harry's attention.
"Are you asking if other teams could train like us?" Harry immediately caught her drift and shrugged. "They couldn't afford it."
"This method was something Hagrid taught me, but Professor Grindelwald told me that these types of body-enhancement techniques have been around for ages. Yet, very few have ever mastered them."
"First of all, magical body strengthening is agonizing. I mean, really agonizing. Only people like Hagrid, who are born with immense physical strength, can endure it. He could lift nearly ten tons even before he trained—an insane natural ability that most people couldn't dream of. But I've optimized the process, considering I'm an ordinary person who can't lift ten tons."
"Secondly, it's incredibly expensive. Magical body strengthening reduces a wizard's magical limit, so without proper supplementation, you'd lose the ability to cast spells before completing the training. But the materials that can restore magical capacity are so costly that most people simply can't afford them."
"The most straightforward way is to consume the magical core of a powerful magical creature and absorb it. But such creatures are rarely below a XXXX danger level, and the most potent cores sell for at least a thousand Galleons. The heart of the Frost Tyrant I consumed, for example, was worth around ten thousand Galleons—and it only increased my total magic capacity by about 0.3."
"I've completed magical strengthening for both my hands and shoulders, but at a price. I've consumed at least a hundred thousand Galleons' worth of supplements, and my magical limit is now about 1.5, a bit lower than my roommate's. Normally, at twelve years old, I should have a magical limit around 2.0 to 2.2, enough to cast around two hundred standard spells in a short period."
"Rich wizards might not have the willpower to endure this excruciating training, and those with the will might not have the funds to support it."
"You are members of my battalion, my brothers and sisters. Each of you has proven your resolve to face this pain. And as your leader…"
"If you prove your worth and ability," Harry said with a smile, "I will provide you the stage and resources to realize your potential."
"Become honored Astartes!"
"For the battalion!"
Harry's clenched-fist shout ignited the excitement and fervor in everyone present.
"For the battalion!"
Everyone echoed the rallying cry, their voices filled with an intense, indescribable excitement.
"Now, all of you work hard and try to bankrupt me," Harry added with a grin. After all, they were still young, and maintaining a little levity helped. They burst into laughter, but deep inside, they each felt something new.
They'd memorized the battalion's rules by heart, yet at this moment, they seemed to finally taste what loyalty truly meant. Only with loyalty could this vision become real. There's no free lunch in this world, but this banquet was one they wouldn't refuse—Harry had given them so much that they simply couldn't walk away.
"By the way, does anyone know how to cook shark? I heard the meat can taste pretty bad if it's not handled properly."
Harry, who had been busily skinning and deboning the great white shark with his bare hands, paused in thought. It seemed this catch of his wasn't going to be as easy to eat as he'd expected.
(End of Chapter)