Hogwarts Emerald

The trial mannequin lay motionless on the ground, half of its body stained red with blood.

It appeared to have completely lost the ability to resist.

In this situation, the system should have already declared Eda the victor. Could there be a signal issue causing a delay?

With doubt in her mind, Eda cautiously approached.

At first, she remained wary of a potential "dying" counterattack from the mannequin. But after waiting for a long moment without any sign of movement, she relaxed, believing the battle to be truly over.

She simply stood there, waiting for the system to announce her victory.

Just as Eda's right hand, still holding her wand, lowered slightly, the mannequin on the ground suddenly moved. It flipped over in an instant, and a red beam of light shot from its wand, aimed directly at Eda.

The trial mannequin's sneak attack was swift and unexpected, striking precisely when Eda had let her guard down in an attempt to turn the tables. Caught off guard, Eda could only react instinctively. She immediately cast the system-rated most powerful spell—the Disarming Charm.

Boom!

Two beams of red light collided, intertwining and growing even more dazzling.

As Eda and the trial mannequin struggled in a contest of magical power, the impact at the point of collision sent shockwaves rippling outward, shattering nearby stones and leaving the ground riddled with craters.

Their magical strength was evenly matched, making it difficult to determine a winner. Eda repeatedly jerked her wand, attempting to manipulate the scattered magical energy to strike the mannequin and inflict damage.

However, this tactic proved ineffective, yielding little result. The battle once again fell into a stalemate. While her right hand controlled the wand to continue the magical struggle, Eda also began gathering magic in her left hand, preparing to use wandless magic to end the fight once and for all.

Having endured Snape's three cauldrons of torment, Eda had learned to multitask. Her ability to conjure flowers for Ginny multiple times was proof of her wandless magic skills. 

Wands were a European invention. Native American wizards only began using wands after the 17th century, while African wizards didn't come into contact with wands until the 20th century. Before that, they all practiced wandless magic. 

Before the invention of wands, wizards worldwide cast spells without them. However, this method came with numerous challenges: low efficiency, difficulty in control, and lack of precision. Some spells even caused harm to the caster. These problems were only resolved after wands were introduced. 

Despite its limitations, wandless magic could be a valuable skill for highly skilled wizards. Mastering it allowed them to cast spells faster and use magic more fluidly in combat. 

With the system's help, Eda had already managed to perform wandless magic. She could now cast relatively simple spells, such as conjuring the rose for Ginny at the Burrow. 

However, if Eda wanted to fully master wandless casting and integrate it into her battles, she still had a long way to go, requiring extensive practice and understanding. 

A faint ache spread through her palm as magic continued gathering in her left hand.

A fist-sized stone levitated under her control, hovering in midair.

Then, like a bullet fired from a cannon, it shot toward the trial mannequin with such speed that it was nearly impossible to see—only the sound of it tearing through the air lingered in her ears.

The moment the trial mannequin saw the stone, it forcibly interrupted its magic clash with Eda. Its injuries left it unable to move, and the stone's speed was simply too fast. It had no choice but to wave its wand and cast a defensive spell to stop the incoming projectile.

The stone struck the Shield Charm with a loud bang.

Boom!

The impact shattered both the spell and the stone, scattering debris across the floor. At the same time, Eda's Disarming Charm hit the now-unprotected mannequin.

The mannequin's wand flew into the air, dissolving into a wisp of blue smoke. The bloodstains on the ground vanished, and the mannequin itself reverted into a small sphere, returning to Eda's hand. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she let out a long breath of relief.

At that moment, the system announced:

[The host has successfully defeated the trial mannequin (Normal Difficulty). Throughout the battle, the host was never hit and maintained the upper hand, making good use of personal advantages.]

[Final rating: Three stars. Battle rewards have been issued. Hard Difficulty trial mannequin has been unlocked. Please check it at your earliest convenience.]

No witty remark this time?

[Host never got hit and managed to exceed the expectation.. well, if you don't look at the days it took for the host to win a Normal Difficulty. Congratulations! At least you won't die by some 3rd class stray spell in this world!]

Ugh... thanks..?

Ever since obtaining the trial mannequin, Eda had been making steady progress, and her combat experience had significantly improved.

If the Eda from today had faced off against Welfare back then, she would have completely dominated him.

That's right—she was feeling that confident!

Opening the system interface, Eda first checked the description of the Hard Difficulty trial mannequin. To give her a clearer idea, the system provided a direct comparison: the Hard Difficulty mannequin's strength was already close to that of Professors Snape and McGonagall.

Just reading this made her scalp tingle.

Her inflated confidence immediately deflated like a punctured balloon. While she had never directly witnessed the full power of either professor, she had heard enough about them to know how terrifying they were.

Across the entire wizarding world, these two professors were among the top-tier, with very few who could rival them. If Eda could truly defeat a mannequin with strength comparable to theirs, then she would basically be able to dominate the wizarding world.

Pulling a piece of chocolate from her pocket, Eda needed to replenish her energy. After checking her battle rewards, she planned to test the waters and see just how large the gap was between her and the two professors.

The system had granted her many rewards over time, most of which were spells, though she had also received physical items.

Once, the system had awarded her a pair of gold-rimmed round glasses. They looked rather nice when she put them on, softening the sharpness of her features and making her appear more refined.

However, Eda had excellent eyesight and wasn't used to wearing glasses, so the pair ended up collecting dust in her trunk.

Hopefully, this time, the system wouldn't give her another useless item.

Opening the system's reward tab, a black metal ring materialized before Eda.

It was unadorned with any gemstones, yet faint wisps of light flickered across its surface. The ring was etched with intricate patterns that resembled ancient runes.

Since Ancient Runes was a third-year elective, Eda couldn't decipher their meaning just yet. Clicking on the reward's description, she read:

Name: The Last Glory

Effect: Wild Growth (Passive) – Enhances the wearer's vitality.

Unwavering Resolve: (Passive: Enhances the wearer's willpower, making them resistant to external influence or corruption. Those with weak willpower are more susceptible to the wearer's influence.)

Unstoppable Force: (Passive: Increases the wearer's attack power, boosting magical damage.)

Immovable Object: (Active: The wearer can transform the ring into a shield, enhancing their defense. It can reflect enemy attacks— the stronger the wearer, the greater the amount of damage reflected.)

Eda was beyond satisfied with this reward. Aside from Wild Growth's vitality boost, which needed testing, the other three abilities were incredibly practical.

If she had this ring earlier, she wouldn't have been so mentally depressed after talking to Glover Cecil by the Black Lake.

The ring's ability to enhance her magical damage, combined with her previous reward Reckless Charge, meant that Eda now had the potential for high magic damage with occasional critical hits. She was starting to gain some real leverage. If only she had better luck— probabilities could be a real pain sometimes.

Eda activated the shield ability, summoning it before her. A single-handed kite-shaped light shield materialized in front of her. It wasn't very large, possibly because her own power wasn't strong enough to sustain a bigger one yet.

Even with the system and the ring as external buffs, Eda knew she couldn't afford to let her guard down. Strengthening her own abilities remained the top priority.

The system was undeniably powerful, but if her personal strength didn't measure up, she would still be nothing more than a paper tiger—all show and no substance.

Looking at the light shield before her, Eda suddenly felt that a sword would pair much better with it than a wand. A shield in her left hand and a sword in her right—wasn't that just a little too Gryffindor?

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