The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

Three of the four finalists are Hogwarts students, and they have unveiled a brand-new spell that has shocked the entire European wizarding world.

The semifinals were actually not very dramatic.

First, Ritz defeated another Hogwarts player in the first intramural match without any doubt.

Next, sixth-grader Philip faced off against Durmstrang's ace.

The match lasted a full ten minutes.

Durmstrang's student was indeed formidable, and their professor had certainly tried every possible method to counter light magic during the past few days of competition.

Besides the ice wall obstructing their view, they also realized that their vision and hearing were being interfered with by light magic. So they decisively used the less common Sense Charm to try to pinpoint Philip's location by sensing magic.

However, the Sense8 countermeasure was already part of Hogwarts' tactical preparations from the beginning. In response to this move, Philip deliberately revealed some flaws to confuse the opponent's perception.

This is a test of patience.

Ultimately, Durmstrang's students became impatient.

Unable to find his target and feeling that five or six minutes had passed and that Philip might be running out of energy, he began frantically unleashing a wide-ranging attack spell across the entire arena, trying to force Philip out with this clumsy method.

But this was exactly what Philip wanted.

With the opponent becoming increasingly anxious, the pace of the game naturally fell completely into Philip's control.

Although the opponent's raw strength was indeed far superior to Philip's, the gap was not so large that it could be ignored and tactical overwhelmed.

Faced with brand-new light magic and Hogwarts' excellent tactical preparations, Philip secured victory as the final beam of light shattered the opponent's defenses.

It was only at this point that the other magic schools realized that Hogwarts' earlier appearance of exhaustion was an act. Otherwise, Philip wouldn't have been able to maintain the illusion spell so steadily for 10 minutes without any flaws.

The ensuing final match turned into a full-blown civil war exercise for Hogwarts.

Rizzi vs. Philip.

Although it lacked the intense, life-or-death struggle, this was definitely the most technically demanding match of the competition.

Both duelists on the dueling platform were masters of light magic. The interplay of light and shadow on the platform resembled two mirrors reflecting each other.

Although Ritz is indeed inferior to Philip in many aspects, Ritz is far less experienced and skilled in conventional magic than Philip.

But Ryze's activation of their runes completely made up for these gaps, and even made Ryze's magic more unpredictable.

Normally, it would take them two or three spells to destroy each other's protective spells.

However, thanks to the effect of illuminating their marks, Rhett can destroy enemy defenses twice as fast, and his understanding of light magic is the strongest among all the students at Hogwarts.

Previously, Ryze could restrain himself, only detonating the markers at crucial moments in a match. But in the finals, he naturally didn't hold back, detonating the markers immediately without any hesitation.

Even Ryze's divination talent can help him sense danger during a duel, allowing him to avoid it in advance.

So after a spectacular seven-minute performance, Ryze ended the match with a rather lavish display of laser beams that detached from his wand.

Rizz White won the junior division of the Duel Tournament at this age.

This is the only championship ever won by a first-year student.

"I am completely convinced."

Philip walked over, rubbing his numb wrist, his face showing helplessness but genuine concern.

He had sparred with Ryze a few times on campus, but at that time Ryze was lacking in everything except for his inhumanly fast reaction speed.

What was unexpected was that at the end of last year, Ryze's magic power was only at the level of a fourth-year student, but now, three and a half months later, his magic power has caught up with those of us who are sixth-year students about to become adults.

Fortunately, Philip had already been impressed by Raz's intelligence.

It was Ryze who led them to the finals. In terms of understanding light magic, he was indeed far inferior to Ryze, the founder.

Although the duel just now was indeed very exciting to watch, Philip could naturally sense that he had received help from Ritz during it.

Otherwise, some of his light magic would probably have dissipated automatically when it entered Ryze's vicinity.

Ryze wanted to make the duel look more intense and exciting to outsiders; otherwise, with Ryze going all out, he might have lost a few minutes earlier.

Seven minutes, a magical number; ending the battle at this point is just right.

“I knew you weren’t using your full strength when you practiced at school. If you hadn’t experienced that special magic burst technique firsthand, you really wouldn’t have imagined it could be this powerful,” Philip said, marveling at the ancient magic that Riz had mastered.

"It's just thanks to light magic and magic, and Senior Philip, you've taught me a lot in the past six months. My basic skills are basically all developed with you guys," Rizz smiled modestly.

Philip then ruffled Rez's hair in an annoyed manner.

He was five years older than Ryze, and naturally much taller.

But apart from when the two of them were standing together, he really didn't feel any youthful energy from Ryze at all.

He even felt that Ryze was much more mature than himself.

"Alright, go and receive your championship trophy. Don't forget that tradition; you should still be able to unleash your magic now."

Ryze tidied his messy hair, then smiled and nodded: "Of course, I've practiced that move for a long time in private."

The subsequent awards ceremony brought the atmosphere to a climax.

When Ryze stood on the highest podium and accepted the gleaming golden trophy, he did not wave his wand to release fireworks like previous winners, but instead chose another tradition.

"Summon the bison."

As the incantation was uttered, a bison, whose origins in France were unknown, was summoned to the area below the stage. Before it could even run wild, it was instantly subdued by the wizards present.

This is a derivative spell of the Double Protection Charm. When Rhett learned about this magic, he heard Professor Flitwick talk about the unlucky wizard who accidentally summoned a bison when casting the Protection Charm.

Those skilled in this magic often use it on the podium after winning an award to enjoy themselves.

At that moment, this scene was naturally captured by countless camera flashes.

Chapter 213: The Repercussions of Hogwarts

The next day's newspapers were filled with reports about the incident.

The French magazine Wizarding Weekly ran a headline on its front page: "Hogwarts First-Year Prodigy Sweeps the Tournament!" and featured a picture of Rhett standing on the podium on the cover.

The report was fairly objective, providing a detailed analysis of the new magic Hogwarts showcased at this year's tournament and the abilities demonstrated by Rhett Butler, a first-year student, in the dueling ring.

Ancient magic, fortune tellers, light magic—even the glimpse of that rare variant of the powerful light spell was analyzed in detail in the report.

The British newspaper, The Daily Prophet, was much more exaggerated, as the report was written by Rita Skeeter.

Besides describing the course of the Hogwarts Duel and the effects of light magic in an even more exaggerated way, this woman, in order to attract attention, even directly stated in the article that Rhett Butler was the heir secretly being groomed by the Black family, and brought up Sirius Black's release from prison at the end of last year again. The title was full of gimmicks: "The Duel King Who Walked Out of the Orphanage: The Black Family's Secret Weapon?"

This can be said to be the first time that the Daily Prophet has fully revealed Rizzi's background.

It should be said that they had already found these things a few months ago when Sirius was released from prison. However, at that time, Ryze did not have any outstanding achievements, so they only briefly mentioned in the newspapers at the time that in addition to Sirius, the Black family had another bloodline that had been separated from the family.

But now that Ryze has become the youngest winner in the tournament, these things naturally deserve to be written about in detail.

The next day at the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the owls arrived earlier and in greater numbers than usual.

Almost all Hogwarts students saw the huge animated image that took up half the page of the Daily Prophet.

In the photo, Rizzo smiles and holds up a trophy, with a bison being subdued by wizards behind him.

"He really did it..." Ron stared at the newspaper with his eyes and mouth agape. "First grader, won the junior championship, made history, am I dreaming?"

Although they had known about Ryze's talent for a long time, they never imagined that Ryze would be able to defeat senior elites from all over the world on the dueling stage in his first year and win this honor.

“Raz told us before that as long as we could make it to the main tournament, we would have succeeded. How did he suddenly become a champion? And are those light magic spells really that powerful?”

Ron knew about the Ultimate Flash Charm and that Rhett and the others were researching simple magic to deflect light, but looking at the dazzling pictures in the newspaper, he really didn't know that this magic had developed to this extent.

Hermione chimed in, "Rizz's strength has been improving rapidly all along. The headmaster and Professor Flitwick have been helping them develop their light magic. Besides the magic shown in the dueling tournament, there are actually quite a few new spells they haven't shown yet. They just haven't actively publicized them because of the need for secrecy. After this dueling tournament ends, we should also learn a lot of these new light spells."

As a member of the light magic research team, Hermione is currently doing simple work such as collecting and organizing theories and verifying formulas, but she still knows the extent to which Rhett and the others have progressed in their research on light magic.

She was also well aware of Ryze's irreplaceable and important role in the research and development of light magic.

Basically, all the light magic was first tested by Ryze after they had verified it.

If Reese can't succeed, it's almost impossible for other students to succeed.

Before the tournament even began, Hermione knew that Hogwarts had a very good chance of winning the championship, and that Rhett could at least make it into the quarterfinals with his light magic alone.

The newspaper also mentioned the ancient magic Ryze used in the duel, so Hermione wasn't too surprised when she saw Ryze win.

Compared to Ron's shock that his peer had become a dueling champion, Hermione was more concerned about the newspaper's analysis of Ryze's parentage.

According to the newspapers, not only was Raz's 11 years of wandering a plot orchestrated by the Black family, but even Raz's birth was shrouded in secrecy.

The newspaper boldly displayed these words.

"...According to insiders, the birth of Rizz White Black was not accidental. It may have been a 'god-making plan' carried out by the Black family on the eve of the Mysterious Man's downfall in order to continue their pure-blood glory."

"Through some forbidden ancient alchemy and an ancient pact, Alfald Black may have sealed the power of ancient magic within this bastard child at the cost of his own life before his disappearance. At the same time, to avoid the Death Eaters' purge, they abandoned him in a Muggle orphanage and secretly nurtured him. Ultimately, the child successfully awakened his divination talent and possessed ancient magical talent far exceeding that of ordinary people."

Rita Skeeter's writing in this article is actually quite conservative. She uses a lot of vague words like "maybe" and "perhaps" to speculate about Rizz's background, and she attributes all the information to that unknown "mysterious insider".

This is Rita Skeeter's consistent style.

When they encounter someone with little ability, they just make things up, while those with connections use vague language to fabricate things that are difficult to verify in their reports.

After all, even Ryze himself didn't know how he was born, nor did he know the identity of his mother, so these things were naturally suitable for Rita Skeeter to freely express herself.

Furthermore, Rita Skeeter knew that the Blake family was not to be trifled with, so her descriptions of the Blakes in the article were all positive, stating that this was a necessary measure to revitalize the Blake family and evade the Death Eaters' purge.

Even if it turns out she made it up, she only needs to say a simple apology in the margins of the Prophet's Daily, and the matter will basically be forgotten.

"Forbidden ancient alchemy, ancient covenants?" Hermione read the report with annoyance. Apart from the process of Ryze and his friends winning the dueling tournament, she didn't believe a single word about Ryze's background.

She had known Ryze since the day she enrolled and knew very well that he had never been exposed to anything related to magic before the age of 10.

Moreover, before awakening his magical talent, Ryze spent at least three months of the year in bed.

More importantly, now only Sirius and Rhett Butler remain in the Black family, and even now Rhett hasn't truly reclaimed the Black family name.

How could such a Ritz be a secret weapon cultivated by the Black family?

It was from this moment that Hermione remembered this woman named Rita Skeeter.

Chapter 214: Giant Slayer and Soul Arena

There are quite a few people who scoff at this report.

Basically, anyone who has ever dealt with Rita Skeeter wouldn't believe her fabrications and would tell those around them that this isn't the real Rita.

However, Rita chose to make up stories that were difficult to verify, and people are always interested in gossip, so despite his friends' efforts to debunk the rumors, the report still caused a stir both inside and outside Hogwarts.

However, while this report added some messy elements to Ritz's image, it did indeed make Ritz's status and fame even greater in the British wizarding world.

The Wesleys immediately recognized this fame.

The Witcher Auto Chess is now available.

Although they had already sold quite a few sets on campus when they started selling the Witcher Auto Chess, thanks to the fame of the Weasley twins and Ryze, as well as the reputation they had built up in Ravenclaw with the first edition of Auto Chess, they still managed to sell quite a few sets on campus.

However, sales outside of school were relatively slow, since the children and adult wizards outside the school were not very familiar with the name Rizzi, nor did they know what Auto Chess was.

To let them know about this brand-new entertainment model, we need to constantly promote it to the outside world, which is a considerable expense.

Now that Ryze has won the dueling tournament, and with his mysterious past being the talk of the town at Hogwarts, the Weasley twins hesitated for only five seconds before decisively starting to promote Wizarding Auto Chess by capitalizing on the buzz.

The youngest dueling tournament winner, the mysterious heir of the Black family, has suddenly opened up a new world for his Wizarding Chess game.

Not only did sales within Hogwarts nearly double, but sales outside the school also became more optimistic.

It wasn't just the British wizarding community that started showing interest in this wizarding auto chess game; even people in France began to inquire about it.

If they weren't short on time, the Wesleys would have loved to add a Ryze piece as an Easter egg to Auto Chess.

After all, this creator of Wizards Auto Chess is now the youngest champion in a record-breaking duel tournament, and his achievements are worthy of being featured in future Chocolate Frog card character introductions.

However, they still urgently contacted Lupin and asked him to develop an attack effect for the Ultimate Flash Charm, which can be used to attack the opponent's health after defeating them.

With the increasing popularity of light magic, I believe many people will be willing to pay for this attack effect.

Meanwhile, Rizzi, who was at the eye of the storm, was standing on the top floor of a wizard's tower near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

He was not blinded by the praise or the sarcasm.

He could only helplessly comment that these newspapers were becoming increasingly outrageous.

The championship he won is in the past; he still needs to prepare for the future.

Although the upcoming doubles match hasn't started yet, this is really just a friendly participation; making it into the main tournament would be a success.

After all, his partner Anthony is currently only at the level of an average second-year contestant. With two sixth-year contestants using area-of-effect magic, it becomes more difficult to maintain the stability of light magic.

Furthermore, the alternating use of protective charms by the two individuals will make the Ultimate Flash Charm even more effective at breaking through their defenses.