#805 - Advanced Spells

"Reasonable?" Wood frowned in confusion. "Are you saying those self-detonating snakes malfunctioning is normal? Was it deliberate? Does the other side have weapons that can interfere with alchemical equipment?"

Wood felt deeply resentful about these issues. Not only did they directly lead to their loss in the second stage of the task, but they also made him afraid to use self-detonating snakes in subsequent battles, so he was eager to know the answer.

Faced with Wood's repeated questioning, Dumbledore couldn't explain too clearly. He couldn't possibly say that someone was controlling the self-detonating snakes with Parseltongue.

Besides being rare, this special talent is seen by many as a symbol of evil, after all, only powerful dark wizards in history possessed Parseltongue.

So Dumbledore could only lean close to Wood's ear and whisper, "Don't ask too much, and don't publicize it too much. I can't explain it to you too clearly for now, but similar things won't happen again in future instances."

Wood wasn't an unreasonable person. Seeing Dumbledore's solemn expression, he couldn't help but wonder if there was some secret involved.

"Understood, Professor." Wood nodded honestly, no longer badgering him. Since the professor had made such a guarantee, similar things would definitely not happen again.

And Dumbledore, after dealing with Wood, came to the group of people who had collapsed. "Harry, Neville, Ron, Ginny, you guys come here for a moment."

The people whose names were called didn't know what Dumbledore wanted to do, but they couldn't refuse the professor's summons, so they could only wear long faces one by one.

After all, they had just finished the instance challenge, and they were so tired that they couldn't even stand up. However, Dumbledore wasn't in the mood to accommodate them, and just urged sternly, "Quickly, I have serious business with you."

"Oh..." Ginny muttered, taking the lead, and then slowly got up.

The surrounding people didn't think much of this scene. They all knew that these four had a close relationship with Dumbledore, and he must have some private matter to discuss with them.

Leading the exhausted four, Dumbledore returned to his office. Then, he didn't rush to say anything, but instead handed each of them a bottle of tonic potion.

Drinking the tonic, feeling the tingling sensation as their muscles and bones absorbed energy, the four finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"You guys sit here, I want to chat with Harry alone." Dumbledore calling four people at once was to protect Harry and prevent others from overthinking.

And when the others heard Dumbledore's words, they looked at each other in surprise, only Harry's expression suddenly stiffened, as if he suddenly knew the reason for the professor's summons.

"Professor... I was wrong, I'm sorry."

As soon as Harry and Dumbledore apparated to the pasture, Harry very proactively admitted his mistake. When facing Dumbledore, he didn't dare to take chances. Since the other party had called him out alone, he must have known about the little tricks he played in the instance.

"Hmm?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why are you admitting your mistake? What did you do wrong?"

Hearing this, Harry thought that Dumbledore was testing him, and blurted out without thinking, "I cheated in the battlefield instance before. Actually, I didn't know at the time that those self-detonating snakes could understand me. I originally just couldn't help but mutter a few words when I saw the situation was unfavorable, but who would have thought..."

Seeing Harry proactively admitting that he possessed Parseltongue without much defense, Dumbledore also nodded in confirmation.

But then he realized that the other party didn't seem to know the significance of Parseltongue in the wizarding world, otherwise Harry's focus wouldn't only be on cheating.

"You don't need to admit your mistake for this. Being able to talk to snakes is your ability. Using your ability to fight in the instance is allowed by the rules. This doesn't count as cheating."

"Really?" Harry was overjoyed when he heard this. He had thought that the professor was looking for him because of the cheating incident, and he had even prepared himself to accept punishment.

"Yes, I'm looking for you today for something else."

Dumbledore replied indifferently, then he stretched out his wand and cast a 'Serpensortia' spell at his feet.

Soon, a black snake the thickness of a fist shot out from the wand. After landing, the black snake turned its head and glared fiercely at the two of them.

"Try to talk to it and command it to move." Dumbledore said softly.

"Ah? Oh..."

Harry still didn't understand Dumbledore's true intention, but he honestly did so.

He looked at the black snake and naturally opened his mouth, while the voice he made turned into a low, hoarse hiss.

The black snake suddenly behaved very well, and obediently followed Harry's orders to circle around.

"Yes, it is indeed Parseltongue, and you use it very skillfully." Dumbledore nodded, then looked at Harry and asked, "Did someone teach you Parseltongue, or did it appear naturally?"

"Parseltongue? Are you referring to the ability to communicate with snakes?" Harry seemed to be hearing the name for the first time. "No one taught me this ability. The first time I came into contact with snakes, I found that I seemed to be able to talk to them, as if it were natural."

"Natural Parseltongue?"

Dumbledore frowned in surprise. He seemed so proficient from the beginning, Harry was clearly a natural Parselmouth.

But logically speaking, this talent shouldn't appear in the Potter family, so could there be something strange about this?

"Professor, is there something wrong with this ability?" Harry asked, feeling a little nervous when he saw Dumbledore's expression change.

Interrupted by Harry, Dumbledore temporarily put aside the doubts in his heart and smiled gently, "No, Parseltongue is a very rare ability, and a very remarkable talent. As far as I know, there are only a handful of people in the entire wizarding world who can speak Parseltongue."

"Really?" Harry grinned in surprise. He had never really taken Parseltongue seriously, and thought it was just a manifestation of a young wizard's active magic power.

"To be honest, I am also very curious about this ability. How do you switch to Parseltongue when communicating with snakes?" Having finally caught someone who could speak Parseltongue, Dumbledore would naturally not let it go easily.

"This..." Harry scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm not too sure either. Anyway, as long as there are snakes in front of me, I can naturally talk to them. Sometimes I don't even realize that I'm speaking Parseltongue."

It has already reached the level of a mother tongue, what an amazing talent...

Dumbledore muttered in his heart, then asked a few more questions related to Parseltongue, but Harry seemed very ignorant, generally knew nothing about this snake language, but when he needed to use it, he was very relaxed.

And this result made Dumbledore a little embarrassed. He was also preparing to learn Parseltongue from Harry, but with the state the other party showed, he probably didn't even know how to teach.

It seems that we have to take it slowly, Dumbledore nodded secretly, and then said, "I understand the general situation, this language is very rare, and I myself am very curious, if possible, can you come to me every night, I need to record and learn this language."

"You learn from me?" Harry was surprised and a little embarrassed when he heard this. "Of course there is no problem, anyway, it's not a big deal."

"As long as you have the ability, anyone can become a teacher. Your talent in Parseltongue is unmatched by other wizards."

Dumbledore replied with a smile, then instructed, "But don't tell others about your ability to speak Parseltongue for now."

"Why?"

"This Parseltongue, in the past, had a bad reputation in the wizarding world, and many people tied it to those evil dark wizards." Dumbledore said slowly.

"Ah? But I'm not a dark wizard, and I don't intend to do evil, really!" Harry thought that Dumbledore also looked at him that way, and quickly explained.

"Don't be nervous, this view is just the prejudice of the world. Rare things mean the unknown, and when facing the unknown, the easiest thing for humans to produce is fear."

"Parseltongue is just a special talent, nothing more. Facing this talent, what you have to do is to familiarize yourself with it, master it, instead of self-limiting yourself. Next, I will also guide you to learn how to better use this ability."

Dumbledore patted Harry's forehead and smiled slightly.

Seeing Dumbledore being so open-minded, Harry also breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded firmly, "I understand, thank you Professor."

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly thought of something, "By the way, how do you say 'open the door' in Parseltongue?"

...

Half an hour later, Harry and Dumbledore returned to the office, and the rest of the people in the room were now in better spirits with the help of the tonic.

Then Dumbledore just casually instructed a few notes after the high-intensity battle, and then let everyone leave, which made the few people a little confused.

"Harry, what did Godfather want you for?" Ginny, who was the most curious, couldn't help but ask after leaving the office.

"Uh, just some private matters." Harry remembered Dumbledore's instructions, so even if it was the professor's goddaughter, he didn't dare to reveal it.

And Ginny obviously wouldn't let him get away with it so perfunctorily. Seeing that she was about to continue asking, Harry quickly changed the subject, "By the way! We just finished the new instance, the exchange list in the Silver Flash Amulet must have been updated, what new good things are there?"

Hearing Harry mention this, Ron immediately perked up, "It has indeed updated a lot of content, but this time there are no alchemical props, they are all some new spells. We have already looked at them when we were waiting for you, you can take a look too."

"Yes!"

Seeing Ron interjecting so timely, Harry couldn't help but secretly praise his good brother, and then began to study the new content on the light screen on his own.

He took a look and found that the updates were indeed all spells. It seemed that different instances produced different exchange items.

And when he took a closer look, he was immediately blinded by the dazzling array of spells in front of him.

[Fiery Imp] 500 points (Battlefield output, learning prerequisite: Incendio 3 or above)

[Torrent] 300 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Aqua Eructo 3 or above)

[Gale] 300 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Ventus 2 or above)

[Tear the Earth] 300 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Diffindo 3 or above)

[Frost Nova] 350 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Glacius 2 or above)

[Arc Lightning] 350 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Fulgari 2 or above)

[Forbidden Labyrinth] 350 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Transfiguration 3 or above)

[Solar Lasso] 700 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Fiery Imp 2, Colloportus 3 or above)

[Tidal Wave] 700 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Torrent 2, Spiral Impact Charm 3 or above)

[Wave Blade] 800 (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Gale 3, Severing Charm 3 or above)

[Ravine] 800 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Transfiguration 3, Tear the Earth 3 or above)

[Touch of Absolute Zero] 800 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Ice Blade Unleashed 3, Frost Nova 3 or above)

[Eye of the Storm] 1000 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Weather Charm 3, Arc Lightning 3 or above)

[Crazy Growth] 1000 points (Battlefield output, prerequisite: Forbidden Labyrinth 3, Incarcerous 3 or above)

[Body Strengthening Technique] 1200 points (Special Magic) Prerequisite: Constitution, Strength, Agility all reach ★★★ or above.

Tip: If you learn Body Strengthening Technique and reach level 2, you can open the second map of the Battlefield instance.

"Merlin's beard! This..."

When Harry saw all the content clearly, he was so surprised that he couldn't even speak fluently. Not only had he never seen any of the spells inside, but learning them actually required various prerequisites!

"Amazing, right..." Ron smiled somewhat triumphantly, "It's a pity we were already shocked once before."

"This time, the new spells are basically advanced versions of the spells on the previous list, and there are even higher-level upgraded versions above these advanced versions." Neville also muttered excitedly, "This kind of spell that becomes stronger step by step is really too novel."

"Not only that!" Ginny also forgot about the previous matter at this time and participated in the discussion, "Your exchange list permissions are only level 2 now, I estimate that when you reach level 3, there may be even more powerful spells appearing!"

"There is indeed this possibility!"

Ron was so excited that he almost jumped up, but he seemed to think of something and soon shrugged his face, "But the prices of these spells are not generally expensive, I only got less than 160 points from this trip to challenge the Battlefield instance."

"It's probably because you didn't contribute enough?" Ginny reprimanded her brother with her hands on her hips, "I have 210 points, and my contribution in the whole team also ranked in the top 20. Harry, you must have more, I remember your contribution ranking was 8th."

"Yes." Harry nodded. "I got 246 points from this instance settlement. Adding the ones I saved before, I can barely exchange for an advanced spell."