The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

Because they were unwilling to lower the school's chances of winning, the following matches were extremely fierce.

Every match in the loser's bracket is intense; they basically won't give up as long as there's a glimmer of hope.

The four Hogwarts students displayed extremely solid fundamentals on the field. They strictly followed the tactics that Professor Flitwick had arranged for them, looking for opportunities little by little in defense.

Finally, when the clock struck midnight, the result was revealed.

Two more Hogwarts students successfully broke through from the forty in the losers' bracket and secured their tickets to the main tournament.

With the addition of Rizzi, who advanced with a perfect record, and another sixth-year student, Hogwarts now has a total of four players who have made it to the final round of 32.

This result is not bad. In the past few tournaments, Hogwarts has usually had three players advance to the main tournament. This is the best result in ten years.

Throughout the main competition, the three major European magic schools demonstrated their strength as long-established prestigious institutions, occupying thirteen spots.

Durmstrang secured five spots with his aggressive style, while Beauxbatons and Hogwarts each earned four.

Of the remaining spots, Iphamoni, Cordosdoriz, and the Magic Institute each secured three, while Vagado, known for his wandless magic, performed poorly this time, with only two players making it through.

The remaining spots were taken up by other magic schools.

“Four people, that’s a fantastic start,” Professor Flitwick said, clearly pleased. He clapped his hands, signaling everyone to go back to the hotel to rest. “We have three days off before the main competition starts, so take a good rest these few days.”

He also reminded Reese, "Reese, your behavior has already attracted a lot of attention, so be careful these next few days and don't travel alone."

Professor Flitwick's concerns were not unfounded; Sirius had actually reminded him of these precautions before.

With the junior group preliminaries coming to a close, the adult group preliminaries are about to begin.

The magical district in France will naturally become even more chaotic during these days.

Besides attracting tourists from all over the world, the tourism industry has also given rise to some less-than-honorable activities.

Although French Aurors were stationed at the dueling arena to prevent dark wizards from infiltrating, quite a few dark wizards were still secretly observing the dueling matches.

These dark wizards are either kidnapping for money to obtain the latest magical theories from various universities.

Besides the adult wizards who travel alone, the underage wizards who come to participate in the dueling tournament are naturally one of their targets.

Basically, there are several attacks by dark wizards in every duel tournament.

Besides these outlaws, some wizards who roam the gray areas have also become active.

They also try to contact some players and use coercion and inducement to get them to cooperate with the odds in the main event.

This year, Ryze, the youngest member of a pure-blood family and a master of advanced magic, has clearly been secretly coveted by many.

Rizzi knew that he was being watched by a number of people in the shadows.

His sixth sense had been picking up on some uneasy glances since the second day of the qualifiers.

There might even be other magic schools involved.

This is actually quite common.

Even the most prestigious Hogwarts has its "unclean" things. The pure-blood supremacy and power supremacy that Voldemort started still hadn't dissipated within Hogwarts ten years after his downfall.

There's no need to elaborate on the other schools.

Durmstrang's current principal, Karkaroff, was also a Death Eater, while Beauxbatons' principal, Maxim, is a half-giant.

So don't expect other magic schools to have high moral standards; simply not using dark magic in front of people is already considered following the rules.

Chapter 199: The Slow-Moving Man Stewed and Sliced

For the next few days, Ryze behaved very well and didn't give anyone a chance.

After all, his senses had been constantly reminding him that at least four different groups of wizards were secretly spying on him outside the hotel.

Rizz knows that his current level is only enough to make a slight impact within the circle of underage wizards.

Even with light magic and intangible means of survival, facing multiple adult wizards is far from safe.

However, not everyone receives the same treatment as Ryze.

News about various junior athletes kept coming into their ears.

A fifth-year student in Iphamony was attacked last night while tending to his wand; a sixth-year student at the Magic Institute received a letter carrying a curse; and a contestant in Vagado was nearly kidnapped by several dark wizards.

The French Ministry of Magic had anticipated this, which is why it didn't cause too much of a commotion. The players who encountered danger only suffered minor injuries, which wouldn't affect their participation in the main competition.

However, those wizards basically only dared to attack students from magic schools outside of Europe, but dared not attack students from the three major magic schools in Europe.

This is not only because these three schools have a huge influence in Europe, but also because these schools do a better job of protecting their students.

For the past few days, Ryze's activities have basically been limited to the hotel stadium and the carriages between the two. Of course, he also goes to watch the games with Sirius Black, Professor Flitwick, and a few others. He is never alone.

During this period, the preliminary rounds for the adult group also officially began.

Compared to the friendly competition in the junior group, which still had an academic exchange atmosphere, the competition in the adult group was more direct and full of tension, and could even be described as somewhat chaotic.

After all, the composition of wizards participating in the adult category of the Wizarding Duel Tournament is quite complex.

There were elite Aurors from all over the world wearing their respective Ministry of Magic uniforms, as well as some professors from magic schools.

These people came to win the honor of the dueling tournament.

In addition, there are a large number of adventurers who want to make a name for themselves through the competition. Most of these people make a living in the wild and their spellcasting style is very unpredictable. They often use all sorts of uncommon spells or spellcasting methods in duels.

They participate in the competition not only for the honor, but also for the generous rewards of the duel tournament.

Furthermore, in the junior division dueling tournament, if someone uses a powerful blast spell or other highly destructive spells in succession, the referee may stop them and remind them that these underage wizards need to be careful during the duel. Most importantly, if any underage wizard uses dark magic on the dueling stage, they will be immediately disqualified from the duel.

However, in the adult category, the tolerance for dark magic is much higher. Unforgivable curses are naturally not allowed, but for lower-level curses and poison curses, as long as they do not directly cause death, the judging panel will generally not be too strict.

As a result, in adult duels, all sorts of insidious spells were used almost endlessly.

Of course, only a minority of people win using dark magic. After all, white magic, when practiced to a high level, is by no means weaker than dark magic.

Therefore, it all comes down to individual skill levels. Dark magic might have some advantages in the preliminaries by using various tricks, but once you get to the main tournament, it will mainly consist of white magic and dueling magic.

When Professor Flitwick won the duel, he used almost no dark magic throughout the entire process; he won the victory fair and square by using spells.

Sirius Black was also there for the honor, but with the participating wizards in such a chaotic state, his qualifying rounds were not going too smoothly.

His first opponent was an adventurer from Albania.

Albania is practically a lawless zone in the wizarding world.

Basically, European wizards who have committed crimes in their hometowns and can no longer stay there will go to Albania.

Helena stole Ravenclaw's tiara and ran away to Albania, where Voldemort has been lingering for the past few years.

Wizards who have survived in those chaotic areas not only all possess this unique skill, but their spellcasting style also tends to be sinister and ruthless.

The opponent is not only skilled in various interference magic, but also possesses many poison curses that Ryze has never seen before.

Sirius Black won the match in the end thanks to his keen fighting instincts, but the process could even be described as somewhat embarrassing.

While dodging the opponent's attack, he was hit by the blast spell used by the opponent, leaving a scratch on his arm.

Fortunately, the spell's effect wasn't strong, so it didn't affect the subsequent battle.

However, Sirius's performance did not improve in the second round of the qualifiers.

His opponent was an elite Auror from the United States.

He is in his thirties, has extensive experience, and has participated in many major operations.

The opponent was extremely skilled in shapeshifting, constantly creating various obstacles on the dueling platform to engage in a tug-of-war with Sirius.

The match lasted for nearly half an hour, with most of the time spent in high-intensity magical exchanges.

In the end, Sirius, in order to forcefully break through the opponent's defensive barrier, withstood a powerful shock spell.

In the end, Sirius Black secured the victory with a brilliant binding spell. However, when he stepped off the stage, his steps were unsteady, and large bruises from the magic tremors were visible on his body.

Sirius's victory was quite exciting, but also quite tragic.

“These guys… are all so difficult to deal with,” Sirius took the medicine Ryze handed him, tilted his head back and gulped it down, and his complexion improved slightly.

He said his opponent was tough, but it was clear he was quite happy to have won this high-intensity duel.

This means that although his ten years in Azkaban were wasted, he did not fall behind those cunning and ruthless elites.

Sirius's opponent in the third round didn't seem as tough as the one in the first two days, so it seems that the pressure on him to make it into the main draw isn't too great.

However, Rijksmund was unable to watch his third-round qualifying match.

As it was time for the junior group's main competition to officially begin.

The main competition venue has been moved from the previous open-air venue to a more sophisticated indoor stage.

This is a huge circular arena, with an abandoned indoor gymnasium on the outside, but the inside has been extensively modified by magic.

Over the next five days, Reese will be competing for the junior championship here.

Chapter 200: The Ultimate Flash!

The stands were now filled with wizards from all over the world.

The referees then began introducing the 32 contestants who had entered the main competition, one by one, after the allotted time had passed.

Among them, Ryze and Seremban, who fought their way back into the main event from the losers' bracket, are naturally the two most eye-catching.

However, compared to Fleur's innate charm, Ritz, the Black family orphan who just enrolled at Hogwarts last year, is clearly more talked about.

Ryze hasn't been alone these past few days, but he's still somewhat aware of the discussions about him circulating outside.

Although Ryze was one of only eight seeded players to enter the main tournament with a perfect record in this qualifier, he defeated three sixth-year students in succession using special ancient magic.

However, due to his age, he was only ranked in the middle in the rankings of the junior group's combat strength.

However, the other three Hogwarts participants ranked quite high among the contestants in this main competition due to that ancient magic.

However, Ryze's attention was not on the referee's introduction or the spectators around him.

His attention was now focused on a new notification on the system panel.

That was a quest he triggered by a special crow he touched near a stone pillar at the entrance before entering the dueling arena.

The special crow quest has been activated.

Mission objective: Achieve a higher ranking in the main tournament of the Wizarding Duel.

Task completion reward: The reward for completing the task will be determined based on the ranking.

Below are the rewards that Ryze will receive after achieving the final ranking.

32 is a basic attribute forging tool.

The top 16 runes are random silver runes.

The top 8 will receive two basic equipment forging tools as a reward.

The top 4 rewards include a random golden rune and a permanent +1 Crow Crossing.

The runner-up prize is a random Prismatic Rune and a permanent +3 Crow.

Champion rewards include a random Prism Rune and a new system feature: Permanent Raven Crossing +5.

Rizzi's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the "Championship Awards" section.

Not only are there new Prismatic Runes and permanent Raven levels, but new system features can also be unlocked.

"Could it really activate the Soul Arena?" Ryze wondered to himself.

Ryze originally thought that this feature might only be available in later two-player duels.

But now it seems that winning the championship gives you a chance to unlock this feature.

It seems we really have to go all out this time.

“You’re daydreaming, Mr. White. At a time like this, you don’t seem to be thinking about the duel that’s coming up,” a clear voice with a French accent rang in Rez’s ear just as he was thinking.

Rizzo turned his head and saw Fleur Delacour standing beside him.

Her long silver hair shone brightly under the magical lights in the room.

Ryze didn't feel any allure; the other person must have suppressed their charm.

“Thinking about some personal matters,” Rizz replied casually. He and Fleur had only exchanged a few words during the third round of the competition, and he had not taken the initiative to approach her at other times.

Now that the other person is approaching, Ryze feels that the other person still wants to find out something from here.

Sure enough, Hibiscus raised an eyebrow slightly, and then continued to ask Ryze, "Is it a personal matter? Is it about your cousin who is participating in the third round of the qualifiers?"

"Whatever you think it is, that's what it is."