"Come on, sit anywhere. No need to be so formal."
Hagrid placed a platter of rock cakes on the table and promptly sat down in a chair himself. The wooden frame creaked loudly, making Ivan and the others watch with some concern. Fortunately, the chair was of good quality and continued to stubbornly support a weight it was never meant to bear.
"Hagrid, this is Ron, and this is Hermione..." After they were seated, Harry began to introduce everyone to Hagrid. But before he could get to Ivan, Ivan stood up himself.
"Hello, Hagrid. My name is Ivan. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Oh, you too." Hagrid extended his huge hand and shook Ivan's. The difference in their sizes made the handshake look rather comical.
Fang, the large dog, circled around Ron, occasionally pouncing on him and covering his face with slobber.
The moment Fang pounced, Ron had already hidden Scabbers in his pocket. Although he had never heard of a dog eating a rat, the experiences of the past few days had made Ron a bit paranoid.
It was as if someone was deliberately plotting to harm his rat...
Next, Harry and Ron poured out their grievances to Hagrid, telling him all about how Snape had deliberately targeted them in class. Hermione listened with a frown but didn't try to argue.
Ivan didn't join their discussion. While Snape clearly couldn't stand Harry and was biased against Gryffindor students, there was no issue with his teaching. Many of the potion recipes he taught were his own improved versions.
Plus, he had unexpectedly given Ivan an "Outstanding" in their first Potions class, which made it difficult for Ivan to say anything bad about him.
Of course, it would be even better if Snape asked more questions in class.
"Theft at Gringotts Bank?" Just as Ivan was bored enough to consider trying one of Hagrid's rock-hard cakes, a newspaper next to the teapot caught his interest.
Harry and Ron, who had been chatting, also stopped and gathered around the newspaper. It reported a major robbery at Gringotts on the night of July 31st. Sources believed it was the work of some dark witch or wizard, but the goblins at Gringotts insisted that nothing had been lost.
"It happened on July 31st," Harry suddenly exclaimed, as if remembering something. "Hagrid, I remember that was my birthday! We were there that day!"
"Were you?" Hagrid said vaguely, avoiding direct eye contact with Harry. He abruptly changed the subject back to the rock cakes, enthusiastically inviting everyone to have some more.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all having a hard time with the rock cakes, which were as hard as bricks and nearly broke their teeth. But seeing Hagrid's eager expression, they couldn't bring themselves to just throw them away.
Ivan secretly soaked his rock cake in his tea, hoping to soften it a little, and managed to eat half a piece.
When it was time to leave, Hagrid was still incredibly enthusiastic, stuffing a basketful of rock cakes into each of their pockets, even though none of them wanted any...
The four of them returned to the castle together, then split up at the staircase. Harry and Ron went back to their dormitory, while Ivan took the opportunity to search the castle for any sign of the Room of Requirement.
From his previous experiments, Ivan had discovered that no matter how much knowledge he accumulated, without practical experience, the growth of his proficiency could stagnate.
The search continued until the morning of Tuesday in the second week, when Ivan finally found some clues on the eighth floor of the castle.
It was a wide corridor lined with many portraits, and at the end was a tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls.
Ivan walked to the wall opposite the tapestry, concentrated on the practice space he needed, and walked back and forth three times. A door appeared out of thin air on the previously smooth wall...
The door frame was flush with the wall, without the slightest gap, as if it had always been there.
With a hint of excitement, Ivan pushed the door open. After he entered, the large door automatically closed behind him. Inside was a massive training ground. The hall was brightly and transparently decorated, with rows of dummies for spell practice on both the left and right sides.
[Ding! The mysterious Room of Requirement has been discovered...]
The voice in his mind was expected, but the fact that the exploration quest increased by a full three percent was something Ivan hadn't anticipated.
Considering that the library, a repository of knowledge, had only increased his progress by five points, it was clear how important this place was.
"{Diffindo}!" After a brief warm-up, Ivan waved his wand and began to practice the spells he had learned.
A white beam of light shot out and hit a dummy. With a bang, one of the dummy's arms exploded, sending wood chips flying through the air. Ivan then restored it with a mending charm.
For the next half hour, various colored lights swept back and forth across the practice room.
The Transfiguration spell, the Petrification curse, the Summoning Charm, the Lumos spell...
After nearly half a month of frantic studying, Ivan had learned all the basic spells. Although their levels weren't high, they had all reached Level 1, so they weren't as hit-or-miss as before.
However, in his initial practice, Ivan quickly discovered that his spell accuracy was somewhat worrying. Fixed targets were fine, but with moving targets, he might fire several shots without a single hit.
Ivan also tried redeeming a Scholar's Experience Card during his practical training and found that this learning buff was just as useful in combat practice.
The enhancement of his comprehension and analytical speed allowed Ivan to cast spells faster and more accurately. His hit rate increased dramatically, and he could even predict the movement of distant targets and the trajectory of his spells.
This meant that even though he had the same level of mastery over the spells, under the effect of the experience card, Ivan's power was much higher than usual.
"I got dumber, but I also got stronger..."
Exiting the experience mode again, Ivan couldn't help but sigh. Every time he used it, the decline in his comprehension ability always gave him the feeling that he had suddenly become dumber.
After practicing for a whole morning, Ivan's head was already fuzzy, and his magic was nearly depleted. Considering the flying lesson in the afternoon, Ivan rested for a while, then left the Room of Requirement. He found a secret passage on the eighth floor he had never taken before and intended to head back to the Hogwarts Great Hall.
The moment Ivan stepped out of the secret passage, the long-awaited system notification sounded again.
[Ding! An unknown secret passage has been explored. Hogwarts exploration progress has reached 40%.
Reward: 20 Academic Points
Additional Reward: Please go to the Restricted Section, seventh row, twelfth column bookshelf between 11 PM and 1 AM to claim it yourself...]