For the next several days, the topic everyone kept discussing was Mrs. Norris being petrified.
Even with Lynn’s "defense" of him, Harry, as the first person on the scene, was talked about much more than before, and it caused him no small amount of trouble.
Today’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class was the last lesson of the day, and after sitting through Potions and History of Magic back to back, the students all looked rather drained when they walked into the classroom.
Lynn stepped in, swept his gaze across the room, and said loudly,
"All right, everyone, wake up a little. We won’t be studying from the book today. Instead, we’re going to do something interesting."
The effect of not needing the textbook was immediate. The sleepy students all lifted their heads from their desks and looked toward him.
"Some of you may already know this, but with the enthusiastic assistance of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, I have created a new magical teaching aid. From now on, it will be used in this class."
Most second-years were around twelve years old, and the words "magical teaching aid" had roughly the same effect on them as the word "toy" had on Muggles. One by one, they stretched their necks to look at the brown box sitting on Lynn’s desk.
Lynn flicked his wand, and the box sprang open. Sheets of parchment flew out and landed precisely in every student’s hands.
"Professor Gray, is your amazing new teaching aid just a blank sheet of paper? Hahaha."
A burst of laughter came from one corner of the room. Lynn did not even need to look to know it was Draco Malfoy.
He shot him a glance. Malfoy wisely shut his mouth, and Lynn continued,
"This item is called an Adventurer Profile, and it’s very simple to use."
He spread open the parchment in his own hand, lightly tapped its center with his wand, and said, "Adventure begins."
The students immediately copied him.
Harry, sitting near the front, also picked up his wand, tapped the parchment, and softly repeated the words.
In an instant, the dull yellow parchment seemed to come alive. Pale blue ink spread across the page like living vines, racing, twisting, and interweaving until it formed a dynamic image with striking visual impact.
At the very top was a moving portrait of Harry. Beside it, written in descending order, were:
[Name: Harry Potter]
[Race: Human]
[Class: None]
[Level: 0]
And beneath the level was a long horizontal bar. Part of it had already been filled in with black ink, and at the end of it was written: 89%.
"Whoa..." Ron breathed from beside him, clearly captivated by the magical parchment as well.
Harry looked farther down.
Beneath the portrait was a hexagon, with one word at each corner, the same six Lynn had introduced in the very first lesson: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.
Inside the hexagon was an irregular six-pointed black figure. Each point stretched toward one of the six attributes. Harry’s shape clearly leaned toward the lower right, the areas representing Dexterity and Charisma, while the parts for things like Strength and Constitution caved inward.
"This," Lynn said at the perfect moment, "is a visualization of your own attributes."
"Now look a little farther down. That section lists your Feats. These represent the talents, aptitudes, and abilities you have discovered through your own efforts, or even the hidden potential that you yourselves may not yet have noticed."
Harry found that his Feats section listed three:
[Flying Talent] (Dexterity +1 while using a broomstick)
[Parselmouth] (can understand and communicate with serpentine creatures)
[The Boy Who Lived] (Charisma +1; has a strange connection to a certain undead being)
Harry’s face darkened a little. He subtly shifted the parchment closer to himself, afraid someone might see the last two entries.
Lynn seemed to notice the movement and smiled.
"No need to worry. To protect everyone’s privacy, each of these parchments carries a special enchantment. Unless you yourself allow it, no one else can read what’s written there."
Harry quietly let out a breath and placed the parchment back down.
"All right, wipe those astonished looks off your faces." Lynn clapped his hands and motioned for them to look at the blackboard. "In the previous classes, we’ve already developed a rough understanding of the differences between the basic classes, Wizard, Sorcerer, Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, Druid, and so on."
"I trust you’ve all completed the assignment I gave in the very first lesson, and have at least chosen a preliminary ’class’ for yourselves."
"Now, one at a time, bring me your Adventurer Profile and your first assignment, and tell me what path you’ve chosen after several weeks of thought."
With that, Lynn sat back down on the tall stool behind the lectern, while the students surged toward the front in a noisy crowd.
The first one in line was, unsurprisingly, Hermione Granger.
She handed over her parchment. Lynn glanced over her six attributes:
Strength 6, Dexterity 7, Constitution 9, Intelligence 15 (+1), Wisdom 10, Charisma 10.
Aside from the Intelligence of 16, which was extremely high even by adult standards, everything else was normal for an ordinary twelve-year-old child.
Unlike Harry, Hermione had only two Feats:
[Keen Mind] (Intelligence +1; possesses exceptional calculation and memory ability; can perfectly recall anything seen or heard within the past month)
[Gifted Learner] (time required to learn knowledge is halved; experience gained through study is doubled)
No wonder she’s the top student. Those feats are absurdly strong.
Privately wondering at how perfectly suited Hermione’s feat set was for the Wizard class, Lynn looked down at the assignment she had handed in.
"Your choice... was of course Wizard."
He smiled and stamped her paper, offering praise without the slightest restraint.
"You were born to be a Wizard, Miss Granger."
The sudden compliment made Hermione’s cheeks turn bright red in an instant. Half delighted, half embarrassed, she hurried back down, and even showed her stamped assignment off to Ron on the way.
Next came Harry.
Lynn had long since seen Harry’s panel, but Harry himself was clearly still uneasy and hesitant about the Parselmouth and The Boy Who Lived entries on his parchment.
"Every feat has its use, Harry."
Lynn adjusted his glasses and spoke in a meaningful tone.
"What matters is learning how to make proper use of them. That, too, is something I want to teach you in this class."
"I understand... Professor Gray."
Harry kept his head lowered, clearly thinking about something.
"Sorcerer. Good. Looks like you took my advice."
Lynn finished reading Harry’s assignment and stamped it as well.
"Oh? Sorcerer? So our dear Potter thinks he’s got quite a lot of charisma, does he?"
Malfoy, who was standing behind Harry in line, had clearly overheard their conversation and immediately slipped into his usual habit of mocking him.
Harry shot him an irritated glare and then walked off toward Hermione with his parchment.
"Professor Gray, with a Charisma score of 14, mine’s definitely the highest in the class, right?"
Malfoy pulled a face at Harry’s back, then stepped forward and said to Lynn,
"I’m obviously going to choose the class most fitting for a noble pure-blood wizard, Sorcerer!"
Lynn took Malfoy’s Adventurer Profile and assignment and looked over his stats:
Strength 7, Dexterity 10, Constitution 10, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 9, Charisma 13.
His only Feat made even Lynn want to mutter, Of course it’s you:
[Master Provocateur] (can reliably use words to stir the target’s anger, reducing reason and increasing rage)
"Mr. Malfoy, your feat is... distinctive."
"I know! But a fair-minded Professor Gray wouldn’t use that as a reason to stop me from choosing Sorcerer, would he?"
Suppressing the urge to throw him out with Mage Hand, Lynn continued,
"I don’t doubt your bloodline or your charisma, Draco."
"But if you actually read everything in The Adventurer’s Handbook about class development, then you ought to know that Bards can choose different Colleges at Level 3."
"I..." Malfoy lost some of his earlier swagger. Clearly, he had not actually read the book carefully.
"The College of Lore gains access to an ability called Cutting Words," Lynn said earnestly. "And your unique feat is practically a perfect match for it."
"Bard?" Malfoy frowned, clearly finding the name not nearly impressive enough.
"Don’t be fooled by the name of the class."
Lynn smiled slyly and leaned closer to whisper in his ear.
"A Sorcerer’s combat style is basically just straightforward spellcasting. Some Sorcerers even have to manage magical surges and overflow. That doesn’t seem like the best fit for the elegant Draco Malfoy, does it?"
"But a Bard? Elegant, refined, high-born, skilled at controlling the battlefield through words and artistry. That calls for excellent taste and eloquence. I don’t think there’s anyone in the whole class better suited to it than you. Why not go back and think it over? No need to decide so quickly."
"Hmm..." Malfoy walked off in thought, almost looking a little pleased with himself.
Convincing a twelve-year-old was child’s play for Lynn.
Of course, he genuinely did not want to waste how perfectly Malfoy’s talent lined up with a Lore Bard build.
One by one, the students came up to Lynn, handing in their Adventurer Profiles and their chosen classes.
Most still chose Wizard, the class closest to the traditional image of a wizard. Among the Gryffindors, some had chosen Fighter or Ranger, and the hot-headed Seamus Finnigan had even gone straight for Barbarian. Among the Slytherins, many had chosen Sorcerer or Rogue.
Lynn gave each student suggestions based on their attribute scores, but he was quite sure that many of them would insist on going down the Wizard route anyway.
Everyone wants to be a full caster, but becoming one isn’t nearly that simple.
Leaving aside the difficulty of building spell models in the mind, just the sheer mess of spell combinations, casting range, verbal components, material components, and all the rest was more than enough to scare plenty of people off. So Lynn did not stop the little wizards from trying. Once they ran into the wall themselves, they would give up soon enough.
What surprised Lynn somewhat was Neville Longbottom.
Timid as he was, Neville had not chosen one of the ranged classes, but Paladin.
"The power of a Paladin comes from an oath, Mr. Longbottom," Lynn asked seriously. "This is not an easy path to choose. Is there truly a conviction in your heart that you intend to uphold?"
Neville lifted his head, looked at Lynn, and then seemed to look through him toward a hospital room somewhere in St. Mungo’s.
"Revenge," the round-faced boy said softly. "I want revenge against the evil that took happiness away. The book said there’s a path called... the Oath of Vengeance."
Lynn fell silent for two seconds. Then he solemnly stamped Neville’s assignment.
"This is the hardest road of them all. But I look forward to seeing what you do, Neville."
At last, it was Ron’s turn.
By now, only a few students remained in the classroom. Ron glanced at Harry and Hermione, who were waiting for him by the door, took a deep breath, and handed over his parchment.
Lynn scanned it.
Ron’s numbers were very average: Strength 8, Dexterity 9, Constitution 9, Intelligence 7, Wisdom 9, Charisma 9.
Compared to Harry, Hermione, or even Malfoy, each of whom had at least one or two standout traits, Ron could almost be said to have no defining specialty at all.
Lynn knew he had good tactical instincts and was willing to sacrifice a great deal for his friends, so he had assumed a Bard, probably College of Valor, would suit him best.
But when he looked down and saw the word Fighter written boldly on Ron’s assignment, Lynn paused and looked up at him.
"Fighter? To be blunt, your Constitution isn’t outstanding, and your Strength isn’t either. Being a Fighter means you may have to give up the conveniences of magic and meet spells and monsters with your own body. And you, forgive my bluntness, do not have that kind of talent."
"I know."
Ron’s face flushed bright red. His hands were trembling slightly, but he did not back down.
He turned and pointed toward the doorway.
"Harry chose Sorcerer. Hermione chose Wizard. Those are the classes that fit them best," Ron said, turning back to Lynn. His voice shook a little, but every word came out clearly. "Their classes both stand in the back. They’re the ones who need protecting. If we run into danger... like a troll, or something like a three-headed dog..."
Ron pressed his lips together, as if making up his mind once and for all.
"Then someone has to stand in front, doesn’t he? I’m not especially good at magic, but I can stand in front of them."
"So it’s not because you’re suited to it, but because you think you’re needed..."
Lynn murmured softly. Then a genuine smile tugged at his mouth as he stamped Ron’s paper.
"Your assignment is the highest-scoring one of the day, Weasley."
He handed the parchment back, and before Ron’s face could turn pale from shock, he added,
"That is the most convincing answer I’ve heard all day from someone who actually sounds like an adventurer."
"Ten points to Gryffindor. For Ron Weasley and his admirable knightly spirit."
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