#286 - Chapter 286 The Second Match with a Sudden Increase in Difficulty

After the first match, all the contestants had a full day of rest on Tuesday to adjust themselves and prepare to face the second match on Wednesday in perfect condition.

After all, starting from the second match, the difficulty of the competition would increase sharply.

The only information released so far is that the second match will test the contestants' abilities to identify medicinal herbs and brew potions.

And unlike the first match, this time the contestants will only have one chance to brew, and failure will result in elimination.

All these restrictions indicate that the contestants must have excellent skills to pass the second match.

The increased difficulty of the competition has brought increased pressure to the contestants.

The contestants from CasteloBruxo in Brazil and Mahoutokoro in Japan disliked each other and started arguing directly on the grounds of Ilvermorny, attracting many students to watch.

In the end, it was the professors from the two schools who came forward to finally calm the situation down.

The Ilvermorny students who watched the scene had a great time, constantly complaining in private.

"The CasteloBruxo contestants didn't show any mercy, directly saying that the Mahoutokoro contestants were useless, with two of them being eliminated in the first match."

"The Mahoutokoro students didn't put up with the Brazilian contestants either, after all, they didn't even brew a perfect quality potion, and their level doesn't deserve to be in the competition at all."

"The English level of the Mahoutokoro students isn't very good, and they gesticulate wildly when arguing, looking like they're performing hand seals. I thought it was some special hand gesture spell, but it was all for nothing."

"If you ask me, what's the point of arguing? Just pick up your wands and have a fight, it's all just a lot of nagging, without any courage."

In addition to complaining about the performance of the CasteloBruxo and Mahoutokoro students, the Ilvermorny students also commented on the other schools.

"That beauty from Beauxbatons is quite eye-catching, but this is a potion competition, not a beauty pageant. I wonder if her potion level is as dazzling as her beauty."

"The Durmstrang contestants don't even have a single girl, which is blatant discrimination. I can't imagine how miserable the girls there must be."

"And then there's Hogwarts, they even brought two lower-year students. They're probably all just people with connections. By the way, did you guys observe the performance of these two in the first match?"

"Didn't notice. Shrinking Solution is basic content for lower-year students. They probably just learned it not long ago, so there's nothing surprising about passing the first match. However, they're going to have a hard time next."

"So what if they fail? They can still write in their resumes that they participated in the Potions Championship and narrowly lost in the second round. We can't even write that in our resumes if we wanted to."

"These old-fashioned schools are a thing of the past, they can't compare to us at all. I don't think there's any suspense about the results of this year's competition. The Golden Cauldron will definitely be ours."

Sensing the greatly increased tension between the contestants from different schools, Sebastian directly called all the students back to the dormitory to study peacefully, to avoid conflicts and affect their performance in the following matches.

On Wednesday morning, the contestants once again came to the competition venue under the guidance of the staff.

Unlike last time, all the potion ingredients were in a large black box. Before the start of the competition, the contestants couldn't see the specific types of potion ingredients.

Harry could only distinguish the scent of Gurdyroot among them, which made him secretly click his tongue.

What a big spender!

Gurdyroot is an extremely precious potion ingredient, worth hundreds of Galleons for just one plant. He had only seen it once in Professor Snape's collection.

Because of its unique fragrance, he could remember it so clearly.

Now that so many students each have one plant, it can only mean that Ilvermorny is really rich.

By the way, Professor Snape said that Gurdyroot is the main ingredient for brewing Potential Potion. Could it be that the exam question this time is to have everyone brew Potential Potion?

Oh no!

He hasn't learned how to brew this kind of potion. If they really test this, he'll definitely be clueless today.

However, Professor Snape said that some of the potion ingredients for Potential Potion are already extinct in the wizarding world, and even he hasn't collected a complete set of potion ingredients.

Is Ilvermorny so powerful?

Can they guarantee to provide all the contestants with a complete set of Potential Potion ingredients?

Besides, Professor Snape hasn't even brewed Potential Potion before, how could the students present have such high-level treatment?

Thinking of this, Harry relaxed a little.

With the whistle signaling the start of the competition, the lid of the black box was opened, revealing about thirty kinds of potion ingredients inside.

The rules of the competition were very clear: the contestants needed to select all the ingredients for one potion from these many potion ingredients and brew it.

Harry only glanced at it roughly and found that there was more than one main potion ingredient.

He subconsciously wanted to choose Elixir to Induce Euphoria to brew.

However, when he was about to select all the ingredients for Elixir to Induce Euphoria, he realized that the ingredients were incomplete.

When he was about to switch to Endurance Potion, he found that the ingredients in the box were still missing one kind of Fresh Vervain.

Only then did he realize that the difficulty of this match lay in the fact that although there were many potion ingredients in the box, most of them were distractions.

The contestants needed to use their knowledge to accurately select the only complete set of potion ingredients, and the potion corresponding to that potion ingredient was the second assessment goal today.

Thinking of this, Harry looked up at the other contestants and found that many students were still frowning and distinguishing the potion ingredients in the box.

Only a few contestants had already lit the fire under the cauldron.

The student from Mahoutokoro in the front left didn't know if he was eager to perform, and he had already started adding ingredients to the cauldron.

Hmm......

It seems to be one of the ingredients for Elixir to Induce Euphoria.

Harry silently lit a candle for the other party in his heart, and then lowered his head to carefully select the potion ingredients.

Valerian root, Sopophorous bean, Fish scales.......

These should all be the ingredients for Draught of Living Death. Could this be the assessment goal today?

He looked closely and sure enough found that the ingredients for Draught of Living Death were complete.

Very good!

After selecting the ingredients, all that's left is brewing the potion.

There is still one hour and fifteen minutes left in the competition, there is plenty of time.

At this moment, the contestant from Mahoutokoro suddenly shouted loudly, then hugged his head and looked painful, obviously he had already discovered that the ingredients were missing.

Harry shrugged and didn't pay any more attention.

Sure enough, just like Professor Snape said, carefulness is the most important quality of a potion master.

He picked up the silver knife and quickly began to cut the valerian root.

Afterwards, he weighed the appropriate amount of valerian root on the scales and added them to the preheated cauldron.

Soon, pale blue steam rose from his cauldron.

As the competition progressed to this point, several students in the field had failed to brew the potion and walked towards the sidelines with sad faces.

Harry didn't pay attention to the surrounding movements, but began to squeeze the Sopophorous beans with the side of the short knife, and then added the moisture from the beans to the cauldron.

Seeing this scene, Snape's mouth slightly curved up. He knew that if there were no accidents, Harry's potion brewing would definitely not have any problems.

The progress of the other Hogwarts students was also good, at least their brewing process didn't have any major problems.

Now it depends on whether they can brew a perfect quality potion that meets the advancement standards.

Sebastian's attention was not on the students. In his magic perception, some disharmonious places were rapidly amplifying.

He touched Snape's arm and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"Severus, prepare your wand, I'm afraid there will be some changes in this competition."

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