The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

With Sirius Black's release from prison, Ryze won't have a chance to go there this winter break.

However, the various alchemy tools and books in Knockturn Alley are enough for Ryze to study for a while.

It took Lu Ping two days to transform the cellar into a confinement room strong enough to withstand the impact of a werewolf's transformation.

That afternoon, after the transformation was completed, Lupin gave Raz his first wizarding combat lesson.

Although both were Flitwick's students, Lupin's fighting style was clearly more unorthodox.

He didn't care whether the spellcasting posture was standard, nor did he care about dueling etiquette.

He had been fighting against those dark wizards ever since he graduated. Even after Voldemort fell, as a werewolf, he had more access to those shady characters than ordinary wizards.

In this situation, his fighting style is entirely focused on defeating his opponent and surviving.

Ryze has mastered many practical combat skills that are not easily noticed, such as how to judge whether the opponent is preparing to cast a silent spell through subtle body movements, and how to use silent spells more discreetly himself.

In addition, Ryze finally had a proper mentor in alchemy, who answered many of his questions.

It was during a visit to Sirius with Lupin that Ryze first mentioned the idea of ​​'Witcher Auto Chess' and asked for their opinions.

“This is different from traditional wizard chess,” Rizzi explained the core concept to the two by sketching a few squares on parchment. “Each piece has its own ‘traits’ and ‘identity’. They are arranged and combined on the board each round according to the wizard’s arrangement, and automatically fight against other pieces. Perhaps some command from the wizard can be added, but the level and traits of the pieces themselves are more important.”

Ryze explained to the two attentive listeners in words they could understand: "For example, gathering three 'White Wizard' pieces to form a bond will grant an extra defensive bonus, while gathering several 'Animagus' pieces will allow them to transform in battle and gain greater size and strength. However, the strengths and weaknesses between the various traits and identities still need to be balanced in more detail."

"This sounds much more interesting than boring Wizard's Chess. Is this the inspiration you got from Muggle video games?" Sirius, who was bored in his hospital bed, became somewhat interested.

“I’ve always thought Wizard Chess was slow and not exciting at all, with each piece taking turns, but what you’re saying now makes it sound like the pieces are actually fighting on the board.”

Rizz nodded; the video games in his previous life were indeed video games.

Lupin, on the other hand, analyzed the idea from a more professional magical perspective, saying that the idea of ​​a wizarding auto chess game was excellent and that if it could be made, it would definitely drive wizards all over Britain and even the world crazy.

However, the production of these chess pieces is probably quite difficult.

First, a large number of pieces are needed. Then, each piece must have its own behavioral logic. The benefits provided after forming 'bonds' are also a very complex issue.

Sirius Black simply waved his hands on the hospital bed: "Let's get started. Let's get a prototype out first. It's better than me lying here alone, bored, reading ten years' worth of newspapers."

Chapter 127: Holiday Ends

In fact, Sirius Black did not fully understand the concept of Auto Chess.

He simply found it somewhat interesting.

More importantly, it's more like a brain rehabilitation after a decade's absence.

On the isolated island of Azkaban, the Dementors drained all his happiness, leaving his mind exceptionally stiff and sluggish.

Now, he desperately needs something interesting, complex enough, and that doesn't require too much magic to get his rusty brain working again after ten years.

Sirius leaned against the pillow, his pale face showing some excitement as he said, "Remus, Rhett, I think we can start by trying the basics of Wizard's Chess."

"Let me think, what pieces are in Wizard Chess... King, Queen, two rooks, bishop, knight, and eight pawns. Since you said you want traits and identities, let's use these as identities for now."

"Then we'll mark these pieces to make the plural pieces look different."

A brand new Wizard's Chess set soon appeared in the ward. The hospital nurses didn't pay any attention to it, and no one knew that they were fiddling with something new using the Wizard's Chess set.

Of course, they didn't actually turn the ward into an alchemy lab.

They simply used magic to cast basic spells on the chess pieces and the chessboard, and then performed some simple alchemy.

Marking Charm, Transformation Charm, Splitting Charm...

From then until the end of the holiday, the ward was filled with discussions and the sounds of chess pieces fighting.

Although it is only a very basic prototype, it only implements the ability for pieces to fight freely and gives each type of piece a different combat logic.

For example, the "horse" will try to bypass the defense and attack the back row, while the "chariot" will rampage across the board.

What Sirius liked most was the feature that three identical pieces would grow bigger and level up when put together.

Especially when he saw his giant three-star king, which occupied two or three squares, resummon all the enemy pieces he had defeated as his own, the smile on his face lasted for several minutes.

Besides that, many things were still very rudimentary.

For example, the gold coin system for purchasing chess pieces has not been implemented, nor has the chessboard level system. The strongest king and queen may be refreshed early in the game.

Even refreshing the card pool requires them to manually cast spells to change the pieces that appear in front of them.

But this entirely new way of playing the game still captivated Sirius.

“I wasn’t sure before, but now, Ryze, your idea is going to be all the rage in the wizarding world!”

Sirius said this on the morning of the last day of the holiday, when Rizzi visited him for the last time.

He is in much better spirits now than before.

"After you return to school, Remus and I will continue our research... Of course, not to continue adjusting with the Wizard's Chess, but to bring in all sorts of famous figures and magical creatures, just as you suggested."

"Just thinking about having a miniature Albus Dumbledore summon a phoenix on a chessboard is fascinating... Remember to write to us, Ryze!"

Rizz nodded to Sirius and said goodbye, "I will, Sirius, but you can take your time with Auto Chess. What's more important is your health. Harry is hoping to travel with you this summer."

Similarly, he also said goodbye to Lu Ping.

Although it has only been a few days, Lu Ping looks much better now than before.

After drinking some tonics, his hair was no longer as gray as before, and he changed into a more presentable set of clothes. It seemed that he had regained some of his former spirit in these days.

“Be careful when you go back to school, and be careful when you come to Hogsmeade on the weekend. After all these years, we don’t know the status of those secret passages. Felch might have sealed them off all these years. Before we get the Marauder’s Map back, I suggest you come from the Willow of Men first,” Rupin gently patted his shoulder and told him about the precautions for the secret passage of the Willow of Men.

Ryze smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, at least I can do divination, Felch can't catch me."

After saying goodbye to Andromeda and the others, Rizz picked up his luggage again and boarded the train back to Hogwarts.

Sitting on the moving train, Reiz began to reflect on what he had gained during his vacation.

This Christmas holiday was very rewarding for him.

He rescued Sirius Black and, with Sirius's consent, successfully obtained the Black family's inheritance rights.

And from the current perspective, the other party's fate has not been affected by the destiny between Harry and Voldemort.

However, we need to continue to observe these things further.

In addition, he brought Lu Ping back on track in advance and made this excellent wizard his private tutor.

Perhaps he could bring Lupin over to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts in the second year?

However, after thinking about it, Rizz decided to let Lockhart come over and bear the curse for next year first.

As for whether Lu Ping will develop a romantic relationship with his niece Nymphadora, that depends on whether they are destined to be together.

There's no need to elaborate on the fact that Wizards' Auto Chess is purely a personal hobby. The modified Wizards' Chess board is in his luggage. Although it's still quite rudimentary, it's enough to broaden the horizons of the young wizards at Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, in Andromeda, Rizzi also gained more freedom of movement thanks to his performance.

He brought a lot of Galleons with him on this trip to Hogwarts, enough to buy the remaining attribute forging equipment for the school year.

This quarter's attributes were normal; he obtained another silver attribute forging tool, which added 15 points of magic resistance, making him a bit more durable than before.

Although it was a bit of a pity, it didn't make him feel regretful.

The only thing that made him feel a little regretful was that it was really hard to find raven quests outside of school.

Although he still takes some time every day to go for a walk and look for ravens, he still misses quite a few. If he wants to continue to gain the Prism Talent this season, he can no longer miss any more ravens after he returns to Hogwarts.

Just as Ryze was deep in thought, there was a knock on the door of the private room. Ryze saw Anthony and Terry standing outside the door.

Of course, there's also Alley, whom he sent out earlier to guide them here.

"Even with Ai Li's help to guide us, it was still quite difficult to squeeze through all the way here."

Antonia opened the door and sat down in the private room, greeting Raz: "Happy New Year! I heard you had a busy holiday. I really didn't expect such big news to happen during this holiday. So, should we continue to call you White or should we start calling you Black?"

Chapter 128: Trying out the Witcher Auto Chess

“Happy New Year. Call me whatever you like. Call me Black today, White tomorrow, whatever you want,” Rhett shrugged. “However, I probably won’t change my surname while I’m at Hogwarts. We’ll talk about that after I come of age.”

Hearing Rizz's words, Anthony and Terry, though they didn't say anything, actually breathed a slight sigh of relief. They were really worried that their extremely talented friend's personality would gradually lean towards those so-called pure-blood wizards after his identity changed.

Ryze looked at the two of them and shook his head: "You're just worrying unnecessarily. Anyone who has ever met Sirius Black wouldn't say something like that. He's the kind of ruthless guy who dared to hang Muggle beauty posters in his Black family ancestral home and use a permanent curse to prevent anyone, including himself, from tearing them down. He's not exactly friendly towards pure-blood wizards."

"Using a Permanent Adhesive Charm to stick up posters of beautiful women, and in Black's ancestral home no less, that's... way too audacious!" Terry stared, looking extremely surprised.

They had clearly all heard about the importance the Black family placed on "purity".

"So, whether it's me or Sirius, the Black surname isn't important to us. Those so-called purebloods are probably itching to get their hands on us right now... But don't worry, they won't attack me or Sirius right now. Those purebloods are very particular about 'decency.' As long as we don't openly oppose the purebloods, they'll just treat us like air."

Ryze said this, then waved his hand: "Alright, let's not talk about these things for now. Don't forget that I'm the one who invited you here. Now let me show you the new thing that my cousin, my new private tutor, and I have been working on. It's something completely new that you've never seen before."

“I saw Michael chatting with several girls in another carriage, so I didn’t let Ellie disturb him. You are the first Hogwarts students besides me to come into contact with it.”

He opened the box, revealing the modified wizard chessboard inside.

"Wizard Chess?" Anthony and Terry looked at the chessboard curiously, intending to sit down on the other side, but Ryze took the initiative to let Terry sit on his side.

"I call it Wizard Auto Chess. Although it's still very rudimentary, it's only an experimental product that took four or five days to make. But it will let you know how to play this thing."

He placed the chessboard between the two of them, then took out two specially made wooden stands, and then took out five shapeless chess pieces according to their color (black or white) and placed them on the stands.

"What do we do next? We can't even tell what these pieces look like. Are we supposed to guess their identities?" Terry asked curiously, looking at the pieces.

Ryze took out his wand and tapped it on the chessboard.

The five pieces quickly change into different patterns.

Terry's side had four soldiers of different appearances and a chariot, while Anthony's side had four soldiers and a knight.

“This transformation looks pretty impressive,” Anthony said, looking at Reiz.

Rez nodded matter-of-factly: "Of course, this was done by an outstanding graduate of Hogwarts. I can't do that now."

He continued, "Next, you need to consider which pieces to buy and place them in the right positions."

"There should have been a system of gold coins and a chessboard level here to show how much money you have and how many pieces you can put in the game. However, we haven't finished developing that part yet. But I can give you a general explanation of the rules, and then you can just follow those rules."

For Ravenclaw, remembering these things was naturally not difficult.

Anthony and Terry quickly mastered the basics.

They picked up the chess pieces and placed them on the chessboard.

Watching his pawns and knights on his chessboard being crushed by Terry's chariot and pawns, Anthony was first amazed by the automatic battle pieces, and then began to cry out that it was unfair. Everyone had two pieces, so why did Terry's side win?

"After all, the values ​​of each piece are bound to be different... and you didn't direct the knight to dodge the chariot's ramming. The chariot's ramming is powerful, but each attack is straight and direct. The knight is more agile than the chariot. If you direct it in time, the knight can beat the chariot in a one-on-one fight."

"You can still command... just like in Wizard Chess?" Terry asked in surprise.

"The timing requirements are higher, since you need to make real-time judgments during the battle. If your judgment is wrong and these pieces frequently lose games due to your incorrect command, over time they will become like the Wizard Chess pieces, gradually becoming unresponsive to your commands or even passively fighting."

“What a cool idea. This is definitely more intense than Wizard Chess,” Anthony exclaimed. Then, in the second round, following Rizzi’s instructions, he bought a soldier identical to the one on the board from among the five new pieces that reappeared on the wooden platform, and upgraded it to level two.

Looking at the taller, more imposing soldiers, Anthony also managed to defeat Terry in this round thanks to the increased stats of his level two soldiers.

As the game progressed, the two young Ravenclaw wizards discovered even more surprising details.

For example, when multiple soldiers are deployed at the same time and placed together, they will form a stronger defensive line to stop a single chariot from charging, while the knight can easily jump over the soldiers' defensive line to attack the bishop casting spells from behind.

For the next while, the private room was filled with the crisp sounds of chess pieces battling and the attempts of two young wizards to give commands.

When the train attendants pushed the snack cart past, they only hurriedly bought a few bags of snacks and drinks before returning to their intense game of chess.

It wasn't until the train began to slow down, reminding them that they were about to return to Hogwarts, that the two young wizards looked at Rhett with lingering interest.

"Although we still have to remember each other's gold coins and number of pieces, if this thing were in the lounge, I guarantee that the upperclassmen would go crazy playing with it. Ryze, you're a genius!" Terry exclaimed sincerely as he tidied up the chessboard.

Aside from the somewhat complicated calculations, this game is a game-changer for the current entertainment options in the wizarding world.

Anthony and his team couldn't think of a single game that could come close to this Wizarding Auto Chess in terms of imagination.

Ryze smiled and got out of the car with the two of them: "That's exactly what I was planning. After all, I need to see everyone's feedback in order to better develop the official version of this Wizarding Auto Chess game."

Chapter 129: Riz Turned into a Sweet Potato

Young wizards going to Hogwarts for the first time need to take a small boat across the Black Lake to reach Hogwarts Castle.

However, after this, first-year wizards no longer need to continue this process.

This time, they traveled by carriage, just like the upperclassmen, around half of the Black Lake to reach Hogwarts.

Rez and Anthony followed behind the crowd, watching the carriages parked along the roadside.

“Look at those carriages, Rizz!” Anthony pointed at the carriages ahead, his eyes full of curiosity. “These carriages can move on their own without horses pulling them. I think it must be some kind of advanced alchemy, or some kind of complicated magic on the wheels.”

“It could also be some kind of invisible track,” Terry said, peering closer at the suspended wooden pole in front of the carriage. “Look, that pole is just sitting there so steadily in mid-air, you can’t even tell where the support is… Hogwarts really has money to come up with so many magical carriages to take us to the castle.”