Chapter 473 473. The second round of competition begins
Because he spent all his Galleons without restraint in a short period of time, Scott had to suspend his alchemy experiment.
But it was not realistic to earn enough Galleons to support his experiment in the short term. After thinking about it, Scott asked Lucio about this problem.
"You are a little too crazy, Scott." Lucio first complained about him, "I am always careful when doing alchemy experiments, and I have never wasted so many materials."
Scott didn't care, "If you want to make progress in a short period of time, this level of consumption is also impossible, at least I don't think it's a waste."
He has accumulated a certain degree of experience during this period of time, and those Galleons are not all in vain.
Lucio looked at him with dead fish eyes, "You make sense, but few people do this."
"Then how did you manage to have continuous money to support your alchemy learning?" Scott asked him.
"Since I got started in alchemy, I no longer need my parents' support and can maintain self-sufficiency." Lucio said proudly.
Scott asked, "How do you do it? Selling alchemical items? Wouldn't that take up your time?"
Lucio nodded, "You're right, so I rarely sell my work at school, unless someone comes to me with gold galleons for customization."
He added, "Of course, even if it's customized, there's not much money. Rich guys will directly find an already famous alchemist."
As for his way of making money...
"I usually make some magic items that are easy to sell and put them on consignment in Professor Roselle's family's business."
Lucio told Scott.
"If you remember, I got a water-attributed magic circuit for skin care during the summer vacation. In short, my products are selling very well now, and witches like them very much."
"..."
Scott remembered.
But Lucio complained before, and seemed very dissatisfied with his gains from the second-hand goods Taobao.
"What's that look in your eyes?" Lucio pouted, "I'm really not satisfied. After all, that set of magic circuits has no other use except making money."
As he said, his eyes turned.
"I know what you want, Scott. You don't have to do it yourself."
Lucio moved closer and patted Scott on the shoulder.
"You can ask me to customize the materials you want to get close to the four elements and magic. For me, that's just the basics."
He said with a smile.
"You can buy a lot of gold galleons from me with the ones you spent."
Scott was unmoved.
"You also said that it's just the basics of alchemy. I think it's better to master it yourself, so that you don't have to buy it every time you need it."
Lucio said, "What's the point? Isn't that the meaning of our alchemists' existence?"
Scott glanced at him, "I say, you'd better not be too greedy. You've made enough money from me, right?"
In order to save trouble, he bought all the materials he used for experiments from Lucio.
This guy must have made a profit from the price difference!
"I didn't make any money from you, my friend." Lucio shouted injustice, "I gave it to you at cost price."
Scott just stared at him and didn't say anything.
"Well, I only made a little bit."
Lucio stretched out his right hand and made a very short distance between his thumb and index finger.
"But I have prepared a gift for you."
He took out a small wooden box from his pocket and handed it to Scott.
"This is what you need. Don't say I made money from you anymore. I even put my own money into it."
"Really?"
Scott raised his eyebrows, took the box, opened it and looked at it.
The inside of the box was divided into four compartments, each of which contained a piece of metal the size of a knuckle.
The four pieces of metal were blue, red, green and brown. Scott used his magic perception to detect them. Sure enough, there was the breath of the four elements of wind, fire, water and earth, and it was quite pure.
"Isn't it a bit too small..."
Scott picked up the piece of blue metal with wind attribute and tossed it in his hand.
"You have seen my game. My Transfiguration products are very large."
"What are you kidding!" Lucio said dissatisfiedly, "These are not cheap!"
Looking at his posture, he seemed to want to reach out and grab it back.
"Okay."
Scott quickly put the metal into the wooden box, and then quickly put the wooden box into the deformed lizard skin bag.
"Thanks."
Although Lucio must not have paid for it, he might have spent most of the profit he earned from him.
This friend is worth making.
"Just don't forget to communicate with me about alchemy knowledge frequently." Lucio said.
"Me?" Scott pointed at himself.
"I know." Lucio smiled cunningly, "You have a mysterious mentor, and he is also an alchemy master, otherwise why would Professor Roselle give you so many conveniences?"
"So that's it."
Scott laughed.
As Professor Roselle's closest apprentice, Lucio must have noticed something.
He knew that he couldn't talk to Scott's mysterious mentor, so he targeted Scott himself.
But Scott didn't hate Lucio's approach. At least, he made his thoughts clear.
"Communication? Of course there is no problem."
He agreed.
After saying goodbye to Lucio, Scott returned to the tower of Hogwarts.
With the gift from Lucio, he didn't have to worry about making money for the time being.
Although the four pieces of materials Lucio gave him were indeed a little smaller, since his magic power increased, Scott's Transfiguration has also entered the final stage he envisioned-
The triple superposition of Transfiguration, Ancient Magic Runes and Spells.
For him now, changing the size of the "summoned beast" only requires an Expansion Spell.
Of course, he is not ready to give up learning alchemy.
He can't have only four "summoned beasts", nor can he buy materials from Lucio every time.
Back in the dormitory, Scott was not in a hurry to make the "summoned beast". He took out his notebook and began to further optimize the design of the "summoned beast".
His idea is to use more magic loop nesting technology, that is, to use multiple magic loops to increase the "skills" of the "summoned beast".
This technology was first realized on Rimbaud.
Strictly speaking, Rimbaud has two "skills", which Scott named [Speed] and [Hide].
[Speed] allows Rambo to fly very fast, and [Hide] allows him to be less noticeable in the shadows.
Of course, because Scott's level was limited at the time, even if he consumed a disposable magic stone, Rambo's only useful "skill" was [Speed], and the effect of [Hide] was not very good.
When Rambo hid in the shadows, although it was easy to be ignored, as long as you look carefully, you can still find some clues.
Even if the effect is not very good, the technology of multiple magic loops is still very difficult. If Scott did not have a disposable magic stone at the time, he would definitely fail.
Later, Scott achieved this through his own strength.
The result is the water-attributed swordfish, which combines [Water Prison] and [Water Blade] together.
Of course, the reason why he can do this is also because the two sets of magic loops have the same attributes and use many of the same ancient magic words. The difficulty of embedding is actually not high, even lower than the two effects on Rambo.
Scott turned the notebook to the page where Edgar Allan Poe, also known as the Fire Crow, was designed.
He wanted the Fire Crow to have the skill of [Speedy Flying], and in addition, [Ring of Fire] could also be integrated into it.
After writing down the goal on the paper, Scott took out a new piece of parchment and began to design the nesting diagram of three magic runes.
For the experiment, he cut his finger and dripped a drop of blood into the ink.
In this way, the ink will contain some slight magic power, which can make the magic rune circuit he wrote produce a slight reaction to verify whether the design is successful.
Because this reaction is very slight, it will not cause damage. It is a verification method that is both intuitive and safe.
Of course, he can also use the blood of magical animals, which also contains magic power.
But the blood of animals is far less useful than his own blood. Only his own blood can produce a more sensitive reaction to his own magic.
Scott's first attempt failed quickly.
The nested magic rune circuits collapsed immediately under the action of magic, and the parchment was torn into pieces by an invisible force.
Scott calmly took out a new piece of parchment and started another attempt.
After he tore a dozen pieces of parchment, the difficulty of embedding the three sets of magic loops had become extremely clear in his mind.
The next step was to try different permutations and combinations of known conditions to find the most suitable one.
But Scott didn't need to use the stupid method to try one by one, which was too time-consuming. Facing this type of problem, he had a simpler method -
arithmetic divination.
With sufficient known conditions, arithmetic divination would tell him the only correct answer.
Scott picked up the wand and waved it gently, leaving a string of golden numbers in the air.
Today, Scott has made great progress in the magic skill of arithmetic divination, and has simplified some steps.
The numbers rolled, changed, collided, and disappeared, leaving only one answer in the end.
Scott closed his eyes and interpreted the answer.
When he opened his eyes, he began to write on the parchment.
After repeating the arithmetic divination several times, Scott modified all the previously failed nodes in the design.
Soon, a new design was completed. When Scott input magic power into the magic loop, the parchment began to slowly self-ignite.
This meant that the design of the magic loop nesting diagram was successful.
He changed a new bottle of ink, recorded the design again, and then put it away.
Next was the redesign of the sailfish.
The combination of [Water Prison] and [Water Blade] allowed the sailfish to move freely in waterless places, and its attack was not weak, but its weakness was that it could only go straight.
Therefore, Scott decided to add another "skill" of [Hide] to it.
In his imagination, when the sailfish activated [Hide], its body merged with the water in the [Water Prison], and the enemy would have no way to judge the direction of its attack.
Time passed in a busy manner.
When Scott was basically familiar with the casting of Apparition and successfully designed the magic loop nesting diagram of the sailfish, the time for the second round of the competition had arrived.
February 24th was the day when the second round of the Triwizard Tournament was held as scheduled.
Early in the morning, the three warriors came to the woods where the brewing cabin was located, collected the single malt whiskey they brewed, and then headed to the venue of the competition.
To prevent anyone from secretly substituting purchased single malt whiskey for their own brew, the entire process was supervised by Mr. Jolly, a member of the judging panel.
"Warriors, now, take out your results!"
Mr. Jolly stood in front of the cabin and said loudly to Scott and the three of them.
The three of them nodded, walked into the wooden house, and walked out with the wine barrels.
"Very well, now it's time for us to set off." Mr. Jolly added, "The audience must be impatient!"
They walked out of the woods and boarded the carriage parked outside the woods.
The carriage took off, passed the castle and the manor, and soon arrived at the venue for this round of competition - Pegasus Ranch.
It was the pasture surrounded by mountains where Beauxbatons raised the rune horses.
At this time, several high platforms for watching the game had been set up on the edge of the pasture. These high platforms were similar to the stands on the Quidditch field, and they were already filled with spectators.
"Gentlemen and ladies, welcome to the second round of this Triwizard Tournament!"
Mr. Jolly, who was the first to get out of the car, couldn't wait to use the magic of a loud voice to greet the audience.
Amid warm cheers, Mr. Jolly first showed the audience the standings of the three warriors.
"First of all, second in the standings, the warrior from Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour, with 43 points!"
The scoreboard was erected high on the edge of the pasture, and the corresponding points appeared as Mr. Jolly announced.
"Tie for second place, the warrior from Hogwarts, Scott Trollope, 43 points!"
There was an uproar when Scott's points were announced.
Many viewers didn't know why Scott, who took first place last time, was deducted 5 points.
Mr. Jolly quickly explained loudly, "Because Mr. Trollope had a conflict with them after the game, the referee panel unanimously decided to deduct 5 points as a penalty!"
Although his explanation was a bit vague, he successfully silenced the audience.
After all, these French audiences don't care why Scott, a British student, was deducted points, as long as there is a reason, they are eager to deduct more points.
In the carriage, the three people who had not yet gotten off the carriage remained silent.
Krum suddenly spoke.
"It's unfair," he said. "It had nothing to do with the game."
As he spoke, he glanced at Furong.
Furong's face instantly turned ugly, as if she had been punched in the face.
"This is not something I can decide." She said coldly, "Besides, Professor Hartman was the first to agree to Mr. Jolly's proposal."
At this moment, Mr. Jolly began to announce loudly, "Finally, the current number one in the standings, the warrior from Durmstrang, Viktor Krum!"
Krum's expression instantly became gloomier.
"Sorry." He said to Scott, "I always feel that a game is a game and should not be mixed with other things."
Scott smiled and said, "Don't worry, this is a joint decision made by all members of the judging panel, including Professor Dumbledore."
"Next, let us invite three warriors to appear!"
Mr. Jolly began to wave them out of the car.
"Let's go, don't be affected by what has happened."
Scott opened the curtain of the carriage and jumped out of the carriage first.
He waved his wand, causing his huge barrel to fly to his side, and then waved towards the audience at Hogwarts.
It wasn't that he had particularly good eyesight, but that his companions were holding a huge banner, and he saw it at a glance.
[Scott Trollope! ]
[The Piercing Man of England! ]
[come on! victory! ]
These lines of large characters are shining on the blue banner.
After getting out of the car, Fleur and Krum also saw the Hogwarts banner, and couldn't help but give Scott a strange look.
Scott shrugged, not caring about the bloody nickname.
At this time, Mr. Jolly, who was standing in front of them, said loudly again: "Next, let's invite the warriors' partners for this round of competition!"
He pointed his hand to the side.
Three huge rune horses, led by a wizard, walked over with graceful steps.
"They are the strongest horses in Pegasus Ranch!"
Mr. Jolly introduced to the audience.
"Mr. Trollope's partner, Pegasus!"
"Chosen by Mr. Krum, Chrysaor!"
"As beautiful as Mademoiselle Delacour, Hippoclini!"
Under the guidance of the wizard, the three rune horses walked up to the three warriors and stopped.
Scott looked up at his partner and confirmed through magic perception that this was indeed the horse he had chosen.
"Hello Pegasus, I'm Scott."
Scott took the initiative to say hello to the horse.
Pegasus's watery red eyes looked at Scott, full of spirituality.
It seemed to be looking at Scott condescendingly and had no intention of getting close to him.
Chrysaor and Hippoclini on the side also looked at Krum and Fleur.
Mr. Jolly continued the game, announcing loudly, "Now the warriors will entertain their partners with the wine they brewed themselves!"
Scott began to open the lid of the wine barrel.
“Only by bringing out the most delicious whiskey can they please the horses!”
Mr. Jolly kept talking.
"If the wine they brew is too unpleasant to drink, I'm afraid they will lose a cooperative partner and they will definitely be at a disadvantage in the next competition!"
Scott lifted the lid of the wine barrel and stepped back.
"Please, Pegasus, this is what I have prepared for you."
He held out his hand and motioned for Pegasus to drink.
Pegasus glanced at him, snorted, and slowly lowered his head.
It first gently sniffed the smell of the wine in the barrel, and then carefully stretched out its tongue and licked the surface of the wine.
Scott watched its reaction carefully.
Pegasus snorted again and began to drink heavily.
very good.
Scott smiled.
It seems that the wine I brewed is not too bad to drink.
He looked next to him again and found that Chrysaor and Hippoclini did not refuse the whiskey brewed by Krum and Fleur.
This kind of performance made Scott confused. Is it because they all succeeded in making wine, or because these three horses are not picky?
"Oh well, none of the three warriors were refused their wine, which means they all succeeded!" Mr. Jolly said, "Look, they all drank happily!"
Following the sound of gurgling, it didn't take long for the three horses to finish drinking the single malt whiskey in the barrel and raise their heads.
Pegasus snorted twice and looked at Scott with no scrutiny in his eyes, but he was also quite calm.
This made Scott confused as to whether it was satisfied or not.
He tried to step forward, tentatively stood on tiptoes and touched its neck.
Pegasus did not refuse, but he did not respond.
Chrysaor on the side did the same. He didn't resist Krum's approach, but he also didn't take the initiative to get close to him.
Only Hippoclini lowered its huge head and rubbed lightly against Fleur, almost knocking her down.
"It seems that Hippoclini likes Miss Delacour very much, which is a good sign!"
exclaimed Mr. Jolly excitedly.
"It seems that in this round of competition in brewing skills, Miss Delacour is the winner in the end!"
Scott and Klum looked at each other, both feeling helpless.
No matter what the reason was, in short, Furong had the upper hand at the beginning of this round.
"Warriors, please take the time to communicate with your partners. The game is about to begin!"
Mr. Jolly said something and hurriedly ran towards the high platform where the referee team was.
Scott simply re-covered the huge wine barrel, stood on the barrel, and used his fingers to comb Pegasus' silver mane.
Pegasus shook his big head, but still did not refuse.
"Hey, listen, Pegasus." Scott said, "This is my game with Krum and Fleur, and it's also your game with Chrysaor and Hippoclini. You definitely don't want to Lost to them, right?"
Pegasus glanced at Scott and snorted again.
Scott said to himself again: "It seems that I am right, Pegasus, you are the strongest horse here."
Pegasus raised his head.
"But other people may not know this," Scott continued. "You need to prove that you are the best and leave them speechless."
Although his voice was not loud, he did not deliberately lower it, so Krum naturally heard it.
"Are you sure it understands English?" Krum said. "They're French horses."
Scott continued to comb Pegasus' mane and responded, "Who knows, Pegasus is so smart, he must be able to understand, right?"
Pegasus shook his head and seemed to be nodding.
"Look, it can understand." Scott said happily to Klum.
Krum's expression changed, and he also climbed up the barrel and whispered into Chrysaor's ear.
He spoke in Bulgarian, and Scott didn't understand what he was saying.
But Chrysaor was obviously dissatisfied with his behavior of lying in his ear and chattering, so he shook his head hard and pushed Krum down the barrel.
Krum sat down on the grass, looked at Scott, who was gradually getting closer to Pegasus, and then looked at Fleur, who was very close to Hippoclini, and his face became gloomier again.
"Be patient, Viktor," Scott said.
Krum nodded and got up from the ground.
Scott smiled and said no more.
What he didn't tell Krum was that he was sure that Pegasus didn't understand him.
The reason why they became close was actually the result of magic.
Scott changed the frequency of his magic power fluctuations, making his magic power fluctuations move closer to Savannah's unique Druid magic power fluctuations.
Although it cannot be restored, there are just some similarities, coupled with the action of combing his mane, it has made Pegasus willing to get close to him.
"Gentlemen and ladies, the game is about to begin!"
Mr. Jolly climbed up to the high platform and began his game commentary again.
"Warriors, tell me, are you ready?"
Scott and the three of them nodded.
"Very good, I will officially announce the specific content of this competition! Please take a look!"
As his voice fell, a mist of water suddenly sprayed out from the center of the pasture.
The white mist accumulated thicker and thicker, and soon formed a denser cloud.
Then, a fairly clear picture appeared in the huge cloud that gathered together -
Just like an old movie, although it was a little blurry, it was still watchable.
The picture showed the scene in the sky, above the clouds.
Above was the endless blue sky, and below was the endless white sea of clouds.
Countless metal cubes were floating quietly in the air. These cubes were neatly arranged in three rows, each with fifteen.
At the end of the queue of cubes were three huge metal rings, also floating motionlessly.
Looking at this picture, the audience began to talk about it, full of curiosity about the form of the game.
Scott also narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the high platform where the referee was.
"Did you see it clearly? This is the high-altitude track specially prepared for this round of competition!"
Mr. Jolly's voice was full of passion.
"The three warriors will start from the starting point of the track, and the goal is to pass the circle at the end as quickly as possible!"
"Of course, our competition is not that simple. In order to increase the difficulty, we have set some restrictions."
"Please listen carefully, three warriors!"
"First, the warriors and your partners need to pass the ring to reach the end!"
"Second, after entering the track, the warriors must not stay on the magic horse for more than 10 seconds, otherwise they will get 0 points in this round!"
"Third, Apparition and Animagus are prohibited in this round! Any magic items are prohibited!"
As he spoke, Mr. Jolly stood on a metal cube of the same model as the one in the sky.
The cube floated up and rose straight up, taking him into the air.
Everyone looked up at him.
With Mr. Jolly as a comparison, Scott also had an idea of the size of the cube.
This thing, which was obviously designed as a high-altitude foothold, was actually very small, just enough for one person to stand on it. If you can't master the balance, you may fall down.
"The restrictions are over, and the next is good news, warriors."
His voice still spread throughout the venue.
"See the box under my feet? This is where you will land."
"Don't worry about safety. When you fall from the box, your partner will catch you. Of course, please remember the 10-second limit."
"Oh, it's not all good news. There are traps hidden in everyone's track. Three of the fifteen boxes will trigger the imprisonment effect the moment you step on them."
"Imprisonment time, 5 seconds!"
"In short, good luck to you!"
After listening to the precautions for the entire game, Scott had a bottom line in his heart.
This round of competition is too favorable for him!
No wonder Dumbledore did not object to the proposal to ban Animagus.
He didn't know how to lose!
"Next, let's rise to the sky together. Oh yes, I will go up to accompany you!"
Scott looked at the cube that suddenly appeared in front of him and stood on it.
"Let's go, conquer the sky, warriors! Let's go!"
With the order of Mr. Jolly, the cube under Scott's feet began to rise at a constant speed.
The cube rose very steadily without any bumps. As long as the psychological quality is good, there will be no danger of falling.
"Let's go, Pegasus!"
Scott called out and waved his hand.
Pegasus neighed, spread his wings and flew up.
Following him, Chrysaor and Hippocrene took off.
Their huge wings stirred up a strong wind, and Fleur screamed immediately and was almost blown off by the wind.
Scott was also startled, but he soon felt that the cube under his feet was not affected at all, so he managed to stabilize himself.
Partner?
Scott looked at the flying horses.
Maybe they were here to make trouble.
Perhaps realizing the impact they brought, the three smart horses flew a little further.
Scott rose with the cube under his feet and soon reached the same height as the audience sitting in the stands.
"Scott! Come on!"
"You are the best!"
The people of Hogwarts who were watching him were shouting in unison.
Scott smiled and waved to them again, making a gesture of victory.
Soon, the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, who were not willing to be outdone, also shouted loudly.
With an absolute advantage in numbers, the voices of the Beauxbatons students shouting Fleur's name quickly overwhelmed the others.
As the altitude continued to increase, the voices became farther and farther away.
Scott looked up.
"Pay attention, we need to speed up next!"
Mr. Jolly, who was in the air with them, shouted loudly.
Scott noticed that the magic barrier rose up around the edge of the cube under his feet, wrapping his whole body and fixing it on the cube.
"This kind of good thing with a full sense of security only comes now!"
Mr. Jolly still did not forget to speak.
Then, a strong thrust came from Scott's feet, and he felt like he was riding a rocket and rising rapidly.
Not long after, they approached the white clouds in the sky.
After entering the clouds, Scott lost his vision, and all around him was white, and he could only hear the faint screams of Fleur.
But soon, he passed through the clouds again and came to the sea of clouds.
The thrust under their feet weakened until it stopped, and they arrived at the high-altitude track.
The cube stopped rising and began to move parallel to each other, bringing them to their respective tracks.
