Ailey's appearance was naturally appealing. Combined with the fact that it was a magical creature none of the teenagers from wizarding families had ever even heard of, it instantly became the center of attention in the dormitory.
"You're saying it's a familiar your father discovered in some magical ruins and then left for you?" Terry leaned closer to Ailey with wide eyes, trying to examine the creature more carefully. "Merlin's beard, your father must have been an incredibly powerful adventurer! I have a cousin who once dreamed of becoming an adventurer too. He followed a group of wizards to explore the secret base of a Dark Wizard from decades ago, and he nearly lost his life. After that, he completely gave up on the idea."
Ailey hovered calmly in the air, letting Terry observe it from every angle. Its small body moved gracefully, wings beating softly as it circled above Ryze's bed.
"Ancient runes that even the Professor of Ancient Runes can't recognize…" Anthony murmured thoughtfully. "That ruin must date back at least to the medieval period. It's truly unbelievable. I've heard that a great deal of Ancient Magic from before the Middle Ages has already been lost. Ailey might actually be a remnant from that era."
His voice carried a mixture of awe and curiosity.
Michael scratched his cheek awkwardly before speaking. "But… isn't it a bit of a waste to let such a rare magical creature run errands?"
Ryze shrugged casually.
"Professor McGonagall already confirmed that Ailey's combat ability isn't strong. At best, it can generate a few protective magic shields for a young wizard. She thinks Ailey might have been created long ago as a service-type familiar designed to assist wizards with daily tasks. That's why she allowed me to bring it to Hogwarts. Besides, I've been training it like this for the past year."
Anthony nodded slowly.
"So it's basically like having your own private house-elf. That sounds incredibly convenient."
He glanced at his three roommates.
"You all know about house-elves, right? My family doesn't have one though. From what I've heard, only very wealthy pure-blood families can afford to own house-elves."
Michael and Terry both shook their heads quickly. Although they came from wizarding families, they had only ever seen house-elves belonging to other households. None existed in their own homes.
Terry suddenly snapped his fingers.
"In that case, if we could decipher the runes on Ailey's head, wouldn't it be possible to mass-produce magical familiars like this?"
His eyes shone with excitement, clearly fascinated by the idea.
Ryze gave a helpless smile.
"Professor Babbling had the same thought. Unfortunately, she hasn't found a way to interpret those runes yet. It might take a very long time before anyone figures them out."
The group sighed in disappointment.
"Well," Anthony said after a moment, "even if someone eventually replicates the method to create familiars like Ailey, the initial price would probably be extremely high. We'd likely have to wait a long time before something like that becomes common."
"Either way, we'll have to rely on you and Ailey for a while, Ryze," he added sincerely. "Being able to quickly understand the layout and internal environment of Hogwarts will help us a lot."
Ryze nodded.
Ailey circled around him once more before darting gracefully out through the dormitory window, disappearing into the cool night air.
Anthony's gaze then shifted toward the object resting beside Ryze's bed.
It was a wooden stick nearly five feet long.
At first glance, it looked completely ordinary.
"Actually," Anthony said thoughtfully, "I wanted to ask earlier while we were unpacking our luggage… Is that wooden stick also some kind of magical item?"
Ryze had been waiting for this question.
He nodded immediately.
"It appeared at the same time as Ailey. Ollivander examined it and said that this large wand might also be something created before the Middle Ages. However, he couldn't figure out why only I can use it."
Ailey had already been examined by Professor McGonagall and Professor Babbling, while the so-called useless big stick had been evaluated by Ollivander himself.
As long as Ryze insisted these items were "inheritances" left behind by his mysterious father, no one would question them too deeply.
Upon hearing Ollivander's assessment, Terry couldn't resist the temptation to try holding the large wand.
Naturally, the result was exactly what Ryze expected.
Nothing happened.
The equipment granted by the system only functioned properly when it was in Ryze's hands.
After Terry's failed attempt, the remaining two roommates also leaned closer to inspect the oversized wand carefully.
Compared to Ailey, however, the wooden stick looked completely plain. There was nothing unusual about its appearance at all.
Yet none of the three boys seemed disappointed.
If anything, their interest in both Ailey and the oversized wand only grew stronger.
After all, Ravenclaw students possessed an innate curiosity about the unknown. Discovering secrets and solving mysteries was practically second nature to them.
And now their roommate possessed two mysterious objects connected to Ancient Magic.
If they could uncover the secrets behind lost magical knowledge through these items, it would be an irresistible opportunity.
The conversation that had originally been meant to end with everyone going to sleep gradually became more lively instead.
Soon the four boys were lying in their beds, chatting about their families and discussing what they hoped to achieve during their years at Hogwarts.
Of course, for first-year students, their ambitions were somewhat unrealistic.
Some casually mentioned becoming the next Minister for Magic.
Others joked about becoming Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.
There were dreams of becoming a Master Alchemist or even a world-famous Dueling Champion.
None of them truly took these goals seriously. They were simply enjoying the excitement of imagining their futures.
Ryze joined the conversation as well.
He casually said that he hoped to study the lost Ancient Runes and eventually become an Ancient Runes Master.
However, Ryze himself was actually feeling extremely energized.
Too many things had happened today.
Arriving at Hogwarts.
Participating in the Sorting Ceremony.
The official activation of his system.
The awakening of his rune talents and the bonuses provided by his house.
All of these events had occurred one after another, leaving his mind racing with thoughts.
He quietly glanced at the Curse Energy section of the system interface.
According to the description of the Doomsayer ability, he could accumulate a maximum of one point of Curse Energy per day.
However, he had no idea how large that single point actually was.
It had already been more than an hour since he obtained the Doomsayer talent, yet the Curse Energy bar still displayed zero.
He didn't know how the system calculated the accumulation, nor was he certain whether the mysterious curse lingering within his body was being absorbed by it.
"I wonder if Curse Energy could allow me to bypass the personal cost of using the Dark Arts," Ryze thought silently.
In the wizarding world, the Dark Arts were undeniably powerful.
However, they also required negative emotions within the wizard's heart in order to unleash their true potential.
Over time, frequent use of such magic could even distort a wizard's personality.
If Ryze could directly use Curse Energy as a substitute medium for casting Dark Arts spells, it would greatly assist his research into that field.
He might never actually rely on the Dark Arts.
But understanding them was essential.
"Then there's the Adaptability attribute converted from Curse Energy…"
In the original game system, Curse Energy converted into Adaptability at a ratio of 150%, while Adaptability converted into Ability Power at a rate of 100%.
However, the current system description stated that the conversion rate from Curse Energy to Adaptability had already been reduced to 100%.
Ryze wondered whether the next conversion step—from Adaptability to Ability Power—had also been reduced.
In the game mechanics he remembered, Ability Power was generally considered less valuable than Attack Damage.
One point of Adaptability only translated into about 0.6 Attack Damage.
He had no idea how the numbers would function in this world.
"If Ability Power still converts at a one-to-one ratio, that would already be acceptable," he thought.
After all, as long as he gained one point of Curse Energy every day, he could accumulate thirty points of Ability Power in a single month.
Based on his rough estimate, one hundred Ability Power was roughly equivalent to the magical strength of a third-year Hogwarts student.
That meant he would only need to accumulate energy for about a year to reach the level of an ordinary adult wizard.
Over seven years at Hogwarts, he could theoretically accumulate more than two thousand points of Ability Power.
At that point…
He wondered whether he might even be able to compete with someone like Dumbledore.
"Still, Ability Power alone won't be enough," Ryze continued thinking. "Attributes like Attack Speed and Ability Haste will also need improvement."
With that thought in mind, he quietly opened the Attribute Forger interface within the system.
The Galleons he had withdrawn from Gringotts could be used directly by the system.
Before leaving for school, he had taken several thousand Galleons and a collection of non-magical antiques from the vault. His brother-in-law, Ted, had helped exchange them for pounds in order to renovate the house.
This time, Ryze had also brought about one thousand Galleons with him to Hogwarts, just in case.
Although the amount was only enough for a single forging attempt, the purchase limit for the Attribute Forger would refresh in December.
By then, the Christmas holidays would arrive.
He would inevitably return home, and during that time he would have to think carefully about how to explain such a large expenditure to his cousin and Ted.
Ryze couldn't help feeling slightly regretful.
The system hadn't given him any opportunity to exploit loopholes.
Otherwise, if he could directly access the Galleons stored inside Gringotts through the system, he might have been able to claim that his vault had mysteriously lost a large amount of gold.
He could have even used that situation to blackmail Gringotts for compensation.
With that somewhat mischievous thought lingering in his mind, Ryze watched as the forging interface emitted a brief flash of silver light.
The glow lasted only an instant before fading away.
A notification appeared in front of him.
Alacrity Shard: +10% Attack Speed, +8 Ability Haste
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