Every Friday evening was Dueling Club time. Lockhart himself might not have been much, but the club he'd organized did give the young wizards a chance for real combat practice.
At the very least, Kate made the most of every week's practice session. In less than a year, she had beaten nearly every student above sixth year from the other Houses.
As for the Slytherins, no one usually came to challenge her.
It wasn't that they feared her—they simply had their pride, and refused to lower themselves to duel a second-year like her.
Which was why, last time in the girls' bathroom, those two Slytherin boys hadn't recognized her at first.
[Host's current dueling record: 98 — 98 wins, 0 losses.]
[Notice: When the Host surpasses 100 victories, the System will award one Dueling Gift Pack.]
The moment she stepped into the Great Hall that evening, Kate received the System's notice. She'd actually planned to slack off a little today and just watch Harry and Lockhart, but it seemed she'd have to claim that gift pack first.
She glanced around. Every upperclassman she'd ever beaten quickly averted their eyes—those who had partners clung to them, and those without hastily paired up.
In short, they were determined not to give her the chance to steamroll anyone.
This was a bit awkward. She could hardly go pummel the seniors of her own House, could she?
Kate looked over the Slytherin students around her and rubbed her chin, somewhat troubled.
Anyone below fifth year she didn't even want to consider—she was mainly worried she'd traumatize them. The older ones were different; at least they were a bit older, so their nerves would hold up better.
Scanning the room for anyone still without a partner, Kate's eyes suddenly lit up, and she strode confidently up to two boys.
"Long time no see, seniors."
She stepped in front of the pair, who had been about to attack each other, and asked with a beaming smile, "Why don't I be your opponent instead?"
The instant they saw her, both flinched instinctively and took several steps back.
That's right—these two were the very fellows she'd caught bullying Myrtle in the girls' bathroom before.
"D-don't come any closer!" one of them threatened, wand raised, trembling.
Kate tilted her head. "Seniors, surely you wouldn't want people finding out that Slytherin has perverts sneaking into the girls' bathroom?"
Both their faces twitched at once.
She wasn't wrong. Slytherin might still be a foul, murky mess, but if word got out that boys had snuck into the girls' bathroom, they'd surely become laughingstocks.
By then it wouldn't just be them—even their parents and elders would share in the disgrace.
"What exactly do you want?" the other asked, on the verge of breaking down.
Kate calmly drew her wand. "Simple. Duel me, two against one. And I promise I won't embarrass you in front of all these people."
The two clearly still hesitated.
"Aiya, this is really tricky." Kate lightly polished her wand, as though wiping down a sword about to be stained with blood. "Now, who should I tell first, I wonder?"
"We'll duel right now!"
"Yes, but you have to promise us—win or lose, after the duel you won't breathe a word about our business!"
She lifted her gaze and smiled faintly. "Deal."
She was confident enough about handling these two. Now she just needed to finish them off quickly so she could go watch Harry.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted Harry rushing in from outside. The moment he saw Lockhart still up on the stage, showing off his dueling skills, he hurried straight over to him.
That fast?
Kate startled—and just then, the two across from her, seeing an opening, quickly loosed two spells at her.
"Protego!" She casually cast a Protego, bouncing their spells right back at them.
The two, hit by their own rebounded spells, ended up either retching endlessly or tap-dancing away. Watching the ridiculous scene, Kate couldn't help but shake her head.
It wasn't as if she'd deliberately made them look foolish—whose fault was it that these two could only think to attack with prank-grade jinxes?
[Ding! The Host's dueling wins have surpassed 100. You have received a Dueling Gift Pack from the System!]
Oh well. Seeing as the two of them had served as free experience packs for her, she'd give them a hand for now.
She fired off two Finite Incantatems at them, then stopped paying any attention to the pair, weaving through the students still dueling all the way to one side of the Great Hall.
By that point, Harry had already dragged Lockhart down and was muttering away at him.
But from the look on Lockhart's face, it was obvious he didn't believe a word of Harry's one-sided story.
"Mr. Potter, there's no solid evidence for any of this. Of course I'll investigate in due course—so please stop grabbing at my robes—"
"Professor, everything I've said is true! Kate believes the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk really exist too. We have to find the Chamber right away, or the consequences will be too terrible to imagine!"
Lockhart, thoroughly worn down by his pestering, had no patience left—his carefully styled robes were nearly ruined.
"All right, all right," he said, finally managing to snatch his robes back, fobbing him off as he headed for the exit. "I'll pay close attention to this matter—you can rest completely at ease…"
The two of them talked and walked their way right in among the dueling students, and it looked like at any moment they'd be struck by a stray spell flying sideways.
Kate, who'd been hiding off to one side enjoying the show, finally stepped forward, knocking away with a single strike the spell about to hit Harry square in the face.
"Kate!" The moment Harry saw her, he ran over delightedly. "Quick, tell the Professor—everything I've said is true!"
Dragged reluctantly before Lockhart, Kate gave an awkward twitch of her lips and cleared her throat lightly. "Professor, my ancestor's notes recorded it too—the Chamber of Secrets does indeed exist."
At those words, every young wizard around them stopped their duels and turned to look at them.
Lockhart, impatient yet forced to be pleasant toward his wealthy patron, said, "Miss Shafiq, I know your family has a storied lineage, but this sort of far-fetched talk…"
"Ahem!" Kate coughed, stepped to his side, and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Everyone's watching you, you know. This is a golden chance—enough to change how the students see you."
Lockhart froze, then turned to glance around.
Soon he realized this might be an opportunity Kate had deliberately handed to him.
Over these past several months, the students' initial excitement and joy at seeing him had gradually turned to indifference and contempt—he was well aware of it.
In truth, during this time, though he still smiled cheerfully on the surface, inwardly he was more anxious than anyone.
Not that he cared about his reputation within the school—rather, he worried that if Kate saw how poor his teaching ability was, she'd start doubting whether his stories were true and choose to stop working with him.
What was a mere Hogwarts professor worth?
Partnership with the Shafiq family—that was the path to making a name for himself throughout the entire magical world. He absolutely could not lose this opportunity!
If he made good use of this chance, he might just turn his reputation around in one stroke, and improve his image in Kate's eyes!
And besides, for the sake of their future cooperation alone, Kate wouldn't set him up to fail.
However…
Still uneasy, he quietly asked, "Is there really a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?"
Kate smiled sweetly. "Of course there isn't."
That was a relief.
Lockhart, now completely at ease, announced loudly, "At Mr. Potter's invitation, I shall take part in the investigation into the Chamber of Secrets, and unravel this mystery for everyone!"
In an instant, the whole hall erupted.
No one was in the mood to duel anymore; instead they all began discussing the various rumors about the Chamber of Secrets lately, and speculating whether Lockhart would succeed this time.
And Harry, too—thanks to Lockhart's words, he became one of the focal points of the entire hall's attention.
By the time he'd struggled out from the crowd of onlookers, he discovered that Kate, who should have been right there with him, had long since vanished without a trace.
You had to be kidding—announcing an investigation into the Chamber of Secrets in front of everyone was something only a showoff like Lockhart would do.
She'd definitely used a Disillusionment Charm on the spot and made a run for it!
That's right—Kate had bolted, and quite far too, straight from the Great Hall back to her dormitory, absolutely refusing to give Harry any chance to track her down again.
In any case, there shouldn't be anything else to do today.
Oh right—tomorrow she'd have to remember to go kill two chickens, to serve as evidence that a Basilisk was on the loose.
After playing with Fluffball for a while, Kate finally remembered she still had a gift pack she hadn't opened.
"System, open the Dueling Gift Pack."
[Ding! The Dueling Gift Pack is now opening.]
[Reward One: Personal Attribute Points or Wand Attribute Points +5]
[Reward Two: Upgrade any Stacked Ability x1]
[Reward Three: Unlock any new Wand attribute x1]
The first two were routine business; what interested Kate was the last reward.
First she chose to add the points to her personal attributes, then upgraded Legendary Magic—her greatest asset at present was still Mana, so she could only prioritize Legendary Magic.
Next was the new wand attribute.
"System, what kind of attributes can the wand roll?"
[The quality of the new attribute is determined by the Host's current Luck value. What is certain is that, regardless of quality, it will provide some boost to the Host's current strength.]
Fine—though you still didn't answer what attributes could actually come up.
Kate had long since grown used to her System's ever-zero score in reading comprehension. She waved a hand. "Then start rolling!"
She had no idea what sort of attribute her current 40 points of Luck could produce.
The screen before her immediately began scrolling at high speed. She cleared her throat, picked a good moment: "Stop!"
The screen blurred for a moment, and then a line of text appeared:
Damage Stacking: For every ten spells cast, 5% damage can be stacked; the Host may choose the timing of release at will.
This attribute… why did it look kind of familiar?
Kate couldn't recall where she'd seen this attribute before, but to be fair, for a grind fiend like her who ground out spells every day, it was quite practical.
Grind up damage stacks like crazy during regular practice, then unleash it all at once when she ran into Voldemort—
Hiss—the picture was too beautiful; she hardly dared imagine it.
Her current attributes were:
[Charisma: 40]
[Strength: 50][Agility: 50]
[Spirit: 50]
[Vitality: 72]
[Luck: 35+5]
[Mana: 76]
[Academy Reputation: 50]
[Family Reputation: 25]
[Wand Output Power: 2.0]
[Wand Attribute Points: 8]
[Wand Damage Stacking: 0%]
[Emotion Points: 2]
[Stacked Ability One: Gifted Student Talent: Level 7]
[Stacked Ability Two: Magic Resistance: Level 6]
[Stacked Ability Three: Legendary Magic: Level 7]
[Stacked Ability Four: Animal Affinity: Level 5 (buff currently off)]
[Stacked Ability Five: Draconic Protection: Level 4]
[Stacked Ability Six: Basilisk Venom: Level 5]
Aside from Luck not having reached 50 points, every other attribute had been ground up above her target for the school year.
Now Mana had become her highest attribute again, which thrilled her for a while—she was this close to hunting down those two poor sods to duel and farm attributes every day.
But the System's notice mercilessly shattered her fantasy.
[The next Dueling Gift Pack will be issued after the Host's dueling wins surpass 500.]
Kate instantly deflated.
She'd ground away for the better part of a year just to reach a hundred wins; five hundred would probably take until she graduated.
It seemed the route of farming attributes through duel wins was blocked for now; better to honestly train and grind spells—that was far more reliable.
Over the past few months, several of the main spells Kate had mastered hadn't leveled up at all, which had frustrated her greatly for a while.
But difficulties couldn't stop a grind fiend. After all, her spell practice was now well into the mid-to-late stages; hoping to level up every few days like before was basically impossible now.
She could only wear it down bit by bit through slow, painstaking effort.
An ordinary person couldn't bear such endless, unseeable loneliness, but for Kate, it was actually the easiest thing to endure.
Compared to the death that might come in the future, what was a little loneliness?
Holding onto this thought, Kate began today's spell training.
A flash of white light, and a reindeer appeared before her.
She wasn't the least bit surprised, and with a wave of her hand sent it away.
Ever since the Grand Summoning Spell reached Level 3, she'd only summoned a human that one time—and it had been that girl who might be Merlin.
After that, she'd never summoned another humanoid being. It took only three days to go from initial disappointment to sheer indifference.
Fortunately, once the Grand Summoning Spell reached Level 4 she'd be able to summon on target, so she didn't mind practicing a bit more.
Another flash of white light, and the white-haired girl appeared within the summoning circle.
Before Kate could even react, just as she was about to wave her wand and send the person away, she was stopped by the other: "Hey, Little Kate, are you that eager to see me gone?"
Kate braked her wand just in time, blinked blankly for a moment, then circled the girl several times in astonishment before asking hesitantly, "Merry?"
"So the you of this time has already met me!"
Merry broke into a brilliant smile and simply sat cross-legged in the summoning circle, cocking her head to look at Kate. "Last time I saw you, you'd just celebrated your sixteenth birthday."
So that would be her, two years from now.
Kate's lips twitched, and then something suddenly occurred to her. She quickly leaned in and asked, "Then did the me of that time tell you anything? Anything at all!"
"You want to know the future ahead of time again." Merry scrunched up her little face.
Er… so the future her still held onto this kind of idea.
Kate couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
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