Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Mikel had been observing the two of them from his dorm room.

Seeing Harry urging Ron to set up the rune array, and Ron reluctantly agreeing but forced to do so due to Lin Xia's authority, Mikel couldn't help but ask:

"Harry, is Lin Xia very serious in the lab?"

Harry and Ron both shook their heads.

Harry said, "Lin Xia isn't serious in the lab, and you could say he's the one who smiles the most in the lab."

Ron continued, "She always had a smile on her face, whether the experiment succeeded or failed."

At the same time, when giving orders or asking others to do things or learn something, he would say it with a smile on his face.

Upon hearing this, Neville couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't this just a smiling tiger?"

Ron and Harry both shuddered and said in unison, "I didn't say that about her!"

As soon as the words came out, both of them were stunned.

They looked at each other, and then, almost simultaneously, spoke up—

"I didn't hear anything!"

"I did not say anything!"

Mikel and Neville exchanged a glance, and without further questioning, they tacitly agreed not to ask any more questions.

After this interruption, Ron resignedly picked up the mithril pen and began drawing intricate and mysterious runes on the spot where the table had been.

Lin Xia's original plan for him was to draw the tracking magic rune array on the table where Banban often appeared.

Ron still held onto a sliver of hope, saying, "But my stone table has been petrified by Mikel and has lost its normal function. Scabbers might not come over if they see a completely different table."

However, Lin Xia smiled and said happily, "I was worried that your table might not be able to withstand the power of the mithril pen. It's even better now that it's a stone table. You don't have to worry about the table being corroded."

In any case, Lin Xia wanted Ron to practice drawing tracking magic runes more often so that he could become proficient through practice.

Harry stared intently at the runes Ron had drawn.

When he first started learning magic runes, he would get dizzy from the intricate patterns on the runes, and sometimes, while looking at them, tears would inexplicably well up in his eyes.

Both of these are relatively minor side effects.

Some people with more severe side effects may experience inexplicable stinging in their eyes, general malaise, goosebumps, or allergic reactions.

Sometimes, just staring at something for a while will make me faint.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco all experienced all of the above side effects when they were learning Rune Arrays.

These side effects gradually disappeared two months after exposure to the complex magic runes, as the body had adapted to the runes.

According to Lin Xia, the tracking magic rune array is one of the magic rune arrays that is not very difficult, and most people who are proficient in magic runes can draw this magic rune array.

However, the level of expertise required varies from person to person.

The tracking rune array can have different effects depending on who uses it.

At this moment, Neville and Mikel, who had been watching Ron draw the runes, also began to experience side effects.

Neville watched for a while, then suddenly saw stars and fell to the ground with a thud.

He's unconscious!

As for Mikel, after watching for a minute, tears kept streaming down his face.

After looking for two minutes, his eyes suddenly stung.

The pain came suddenly, as if a shuttle was trying to drill into his eyeball.

He instantly felt like his eyeballs were about to burst!

This made Mikel close his eyes involuntarily, his heart pounding, as if he had just faced a life-or-death crisis.

After no longer looking at the magic rune array, the unsettling illusions slowly disappeared.

Mikel's mood gradually calmed down.

Just as he was about to open his eyes and continue looking at the magic rune array, a warning suddenly came to his mind, and the heart palpitation he had just felt, as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest, returned.

"This rune array has such a strong illusion... Harry and Ron can not only look directly at the rune array, but also draw it. Just how profound is their knowledge of ancient runes?"

Mikel reached out and gently stroked his chest, where his heart was.

Even though he knew it was fake, and even though he knew his eyeballs were still in their sockets, his heart was still pounding and he felt extremely uneasy.

It was as if his eyeballs would be crushed by some force the moment he opened his eyes.

Just as he mustered his courage to open his eyes, a system notification suddenly sounded in his mind—

[The host has been detected to be under intense psychological suggestion and hallucinations. Should we dispel them?]

[The environment surrounding the host has been detected as beneficial, capable of tempering the host's willpower. Should the host dispel the negative influence?]

[Once the host dispels the suggestion and illusion, it will be impossible to glimpse the mysteries of the ancient demonic rune array. Should the dispelling still be performed?]

These three reminders were actually telling Mikel how to choose.

Mikel naturally chose to refuse to disperse them.

He took a deep breath, mustered his courage, opened his eyes, and stared blankly at the magic rune array drawn by Ron.

At the same time, a sense of感慨 arose in his heart: "The gap between me and Harry is too big. I thought Harry was my opponent, but now it turns out that not only Harry, but even Ron can't compare to me."

When did he become so amazing?

He could not only look directly at and learn from this profound ancient demonic script, but he could also start drawing it!

Mick is now opening his eyes not to memorize these ancient demonic runes, but to use the illusion to hone his mental strength.

The idea is good, and the courage is commendable.

Unfortunately, he only opened his eyes again for five seconds before collapsing to the ground with a thud.

He was in so much pain that he fell into a coma to protect himself.

On the other side, Ron was concentrating on drawing magic runes.

This time he got into the zone, and two consecutive "thump-thump" sounds didn't affect his drawing.

Ron had a feeling that perhaps this time he could finish drawing all the magic runes in one go.

Harry, however, heard two sounds, looked up, and saw Neville and Mikel lying unconscious on the spot before looking away again.

He was all too familiar with this scene.

Previously, when they were learning magic rune arrays from Lin Xia, they would often faint on the ground while learning.

Harry knew that this fainting spell was just a simple fainting spell and would not cause any harm to his body or mind.

Moreover, every time I wake up after fainting, I feel refreshed.

Harry looked back at Ron's rune array.

Before long, several thoughts came to mind.

[This part is a bit overdrawn, the brushstrokes are wrong.] [Another area should have been drawn with more detail; why did he just go straight across it? Luckily the nodes are still there, otherwise the magic rune array would have broken at that step.]

[He missed a dot, which will cause insufficient magic flow during the transport of the magic rune array, shortening its usable lifespan and potentially reducing it by three days compared to normal.]

……

Even Harry himself didn't understand why so many thoughts popped into his head when he watched Ron draw runes.

These thoughts arose naturally, seemingly without ever going through his mind.

If his mind had been working, Harry wasn't quite sure why he knew these things.

He clearly doesn't have much experience drawing magic runes; he's just a beginner!
But the moment he saw the magic rune array, he was like an experienced old wizard with more than ten years of expertise in ancient magic runes.

With just a glance, one can spot many flaws in this tracking magic rune array.

Suddenly, Harry realized something, and his expression became complicated.

Could it be that these experiences with magic runes were also abilities he gained in his dreams?
In his previous life, he was very proficient in ancient demonic script, which is why he can tell where the mistake is just by glancing at it in this life.
Ron was unaware of Harry's complex thoughts.

As he drew the magic runes, his excitement grew.

He was right; this time he could draw the magic rune array in one go!
He didn't know how much time had passed, or it seemed like only a few minutes had gone by, when Ron suddenly let out a soft sigh of relief.

The breath was barely audible, but it sounded exceptionally clear in the now very quiet room.

The sound of breathing also brought Harry back from his reverie.

He looked up and saw Ron slowly putting down his pen.

Looking down, a tracking magic rune array was drawn in its entirety.

Ron stared intently at Harry, his eyebrows dancing with excitement, about to say something.

The next second, Harry said with utmost calmness, "Ron, there are at least a dozen mistakes in your rune array, and these are the more obvious ones."

There are also some minor errors, which I won't point out. There are at least dozens of these minor errors, but if you'd like to know, I'd be happy to tell you.

Ron:…

My excitement was suddenly dampened.

Ron said in a low voice, "Harry, you don't need to tell me what's wrong. You just need to tell me, is this tracking rune circle usable?"

This time, Harry nodded confidently: "It works!"

Ron's shoulders slumped, clearly relieved.

"As long as it works, as long as it works..."

He waved his hand, turned his body away, and refused to communicate with Harry.

"Since it works, let's use it. As for the flaws in these magic runes, don't tell me yet. Let me sleep for a while and then we'll talk about it."

Ron left without looking back.

He silently lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep instantly.

Now it's Harry's turn: ...

Harry stared at the tracking rune for a while, originally just trying to find the mistakes and write them down.

When Ron woke up, he was handed the notebook with the mistakes he had made.

But suddenly, for some reason, a thought arose in his mind: If it were me, how would I improve these tracking magic runes, and could I make them even more perfect?
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Harry, as if possessed, picked up the mithril pen that Ron had placed aside and suddenly drew a straight line next to the tracking rune circle.

This straight line connects to the tracking rune array that Ron drew, and at the other end of the line, he drew a very small rune array.

This magic rune array has no specific effect; it is merely an improvement on the flaws of the tracking magic rune array beside it.

By transforming this tiny magic rune array, Ron's magic rune array could operate more smoothly.

Just as he was about to finish drawing, Harry suddenly remembered something, flicked his wrist, and drew another sharp hook.

This symbol represents malicious harm.

Once a certain condition of the tracking rune array is triggered, the weapon's effect will change from tracking to a malicious killing intent.

The tracking rune will transform at that moment, inflicting malicious damage on the triggerer.

The penalties for malicious damage are wide-ranging; they may inflict curses or spells on the perpetrator, or even trigger the "pierced by a thousand arrows" effect.

Of course, it's also possible that it will only make the trigger person feel disgusted and will not cause any physical harm.

Even Harry himself probably didn't realize how deep his malice towards Scabbers ran.

If we can trace Banban's tracks, I hope he gets hurt, or even dies!
Harry had just finished drawing the miniature rune array when he suddenly heard a sound in his ear.

"Harry, what are you doing? Are you going to draw another rune circle with that mithril pen?" Mikel asked, still a little dazed.

Harry was startled, his expression stiffening slightly. He turned to Mikel and said, "I... I was just drawing randomly."

If things were normal, Mikel would have noticed that Harry's eyes were darting around when he said those words, clearly indicating that he wasn't being sincere.

But he only suddenly became clear-headed for a moment.

Having received Harry's reply, he closed his eyes with a sense of relief, then collapsed back to the ground with a "thud" and continued sleeping.

Harry glanced nervously at the unconscious Mikel, then at Ron who was sleeping on the bed, before silently returning to his own bed and closing his eyes to sleep.

While they were all asleep.

The snail-sheep beasts, which had been lying obediently on the bed, suddenly twitched their small ears and looked around warily. After confirming that there were no natural enemies around to harm them, they leaped off the bed.

Hagrid only told everyone that as long as the snail-goat had enough food, it was the most docile creature.

But what Hagrid didn't say was that the snail-goat was a voracious eater.

It can eat more in a day than several pigs!

Ron and the others didn't figure out the correct amount of food the snail-sheep beast should eat, thinking that feeding it once a day would be enough, but that was far from enough to satisfy the snail-sheep beast's appetite.

So, while everyone was asleep...

The snail-sheep beast silently opened its eyes, entering the hunting phase.

They sensed something was amiss and headed toward one of the narrow passageways in the dormitory.

The snail-sheep beast emitted a faint cry, which, upon closer listening, sounded somewhat like the squeaking of a mouse, as if it were calling for its kind.

rustling, rustling...

Suddenly, a mouse was lured out.

As soon as it appeared at the pipe exit, it was snatched up by the snail-sheep beast and swallowed whole without making a sound!

The rustling sound continued.

The snail-goat beast mimicked the sound of a mouse again. If Hagrid were here, he would surely exclaim in amazement, "My God, they are amazing! That's the sound of a female mouse in heat! How did they do that?!"

Snail-Sheep Beast: ? ? ?

Don't ask us how we did it, we're just a bunch of pretty and well-behaved cuties! (End of Chapter)